West Indies stutter to 189 for 9 after strong start against dominant India in 4th ODI at Antigua
WI stutter to 189 for 9 after strong start against dominant IND in 4th ODI
Another poor show with the bat, West Indies batting concluded at 189 for 9 against India in the fourth fixture of the five-match ODI series at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua on Sunday. The hosts got off to good start, courtesy their openers Evin Lewis and Kyle Hope. However, once India found the first breakthrough, their bowlers continued making inroads at regular intervals to restrict West Indies to a modest total. Hardik Pandya and Umesh Yadav were pick of the bowlers, taking 3 wickets apiece. Kuldeep Yadav continued to impress with his 2 wickets. Live cricket scorecard: India vs West Indies, 4th ODI
West Indies captain Jason Holder won the toss and chose to bat first. Virat Kohli did not mind the toss result either, as he anyway wanted to bowl first. Trailing 2-0 and desperately looking to square the series, the home side brought in Alzarri Joseph for medium-pacer Miguel Cummins. As expected, India rang the changes with Yuvraj Singh replacing Dinesh Karthik while Ravindra Jadeja came in for fellow spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.
Seamer Mohammed Shami got his first ODI since the 2015 World Cup, as Bhuvneshwar Kumar was rested. The team management confirmed Yuvraj was fit, but rested him as precautionary measure. Rishabh Pant continued to warm the bench.
For a change, the West Indies openers Lewis and Kyle Hope got the team off to a decent start. The two batsmen were subdued in their approach, but kept the Indian bowlers at bay. Shami and Umesh bowled tight lines in their first spell, not allowing the batsmen to cut loose.
Once West Indies got past the 50-run mark, Lewis and Kyle looked to open up. Hope perished in the process, becoming Pandya’s first victim. It was poor cricket from him. He got a four on the previous delivery, and perished trying to play a fancy shot on the very next ball, finding the only man at the boundary on the off side and falling for 35 from 63 balls. Lewis hit a four and a six in successive overs, but fell to Kuldeep in his very first over.
Both the openers threw away their starts, and it was imperative for the ones coming in next to carry on. However, after a brief stand, Kuldeep sent back Roston Chase (24), who could not pick his wrong ’un for the second time in as many games. From here on, West Indies kept losing wickets at regular intervals.
Shai Hope (25) and Jason Mohammed (20) resisted for a while, but Pandya accounted for both the wickets, breaking the back of West Indian innings. Umesh then returned to send back Holder, Rovman Powell and Ashley Nurse, as West Indies crawled to 189. Their batsmen could not score a single boundary off last 83 balls.
While Pandya, Umesh and Kuldeep were among the wickets, Shami and Ravindra Jadeja also bowled well but went wicket-less.
Brief scores:
West Indies 189 for 9 from 50 overs (Evin Lewis 35, Kyle Hope 35, Shai Hope 25; Umesh Yadav 3 for 36, Hardik Pandya 3 for 40, Kuldeep Yadav 2 for 31) against India.