As West Indies forced India to scrape, battle, and eventually submit, a T20 team constructed with the future in mind was unable to handle the challenges of the present.
It was a win that had to be earned. On a slow Tarouba field, West Indies fended off a three-man spin attack to score 149, with their captain, Rovman Powell, who had been dropped in the prior one-day series, leading the way with 48.
The combination of Romario Shepherd’s gumption, Akeal Hosein’s cunning, and Jason Holder’s experience allowed them to buck a recent trend, and four proved to be more than enough. Over the past five years, West Indies hasn’t played India very well in 20-over international matches. This one must have tasted very sweet.
When Hardik Pandya was bowled during the chase with India needing 37 from 29 balls, the outcome of the match was in doubt. When India required ten runs off the final over and had three wickets in hand, the game was still up for grabs. Shepherd gave West Indies the advantage, demonstrating to everyone that they can compete even without their seniors.
By eliminating Shubman Gill during the powerplay, Hosein, who had just returned from the Major League Cricket event in the United States, had set the tone for the West Indies.
After a brief absence, the left-arm finger spinner came back to finish with impressive figures of 4-0-17-1, including 14 dots. The pace of the ball was taken away by Holder, Obed McCoy, and Shepherd to make life difficult for the Indian hitters.
Suryakumar Yadav was only able to score one of his 21 runs behind square on such a pitch. Offcutters took out both skipper Hardik and debutant Tilak Varma, who had led India in scoring with 39 off 22 balls. Despite a brief appearance by Arshdeep Singh, there would be no turning back for India.
In the powerplay, West Indies scored 54 runs, of which 51 were made by Brandon King and Nicholas Pooran, who had just struck a century in the MLC final.
With the expectation that the pitch would slow down as the game went on, King played harder against the new ball, launching Mukesh Kumar for back-to-back fours in his opening over. Axar Patel was also lofted for a six by King before Yuzvendra Chahal caught him in his opening over.
King was replaced by Pooran, who used a variety of sweeps to attack India’s spinners. Hardik awarded Axar the final over of the power play despite Pooran’s presence in the center; Axar ultimately leaked 14 points.
After then, Axar didn’t bowl another over, but Kuldeep Yadav, Chahal, and the seamers took advantage of the pitch’s characteristics to put a stop to West Indies’ batting innings.
When Kuldeep and Chahal reunited, they each took three wickets, but Hardik was the one to take the prized scalp of Pooran, who clocked in at 41 points off 34 balls.
Powell didn’t have a good life; he was twice dropped, but with 48 from 32 balls, he fixed the West Indies’ innings. The direction of the turn was irrelevant until he reached the pitch of the ball, despite the fact that he didn’t always pick the wrist spinners out of the hand. He showed bravery by consistently charging them.
Following that, India had a shaky start and lost both Gill and Ishan Kishan during the powerplay. Gill was stumped for three runs off nine balls thanks to Hosein’s new ball’s dip and turn. Kishan also attempted to create a shot by moving closer to McCoy, but he missed it mid-on.
Tilak, though, made his entrance into the world of international cricket in the following over with a pair of sixes off rockets clocked at over 140 kph from Alzarri Joseph. Tilak then drilled Shepherd over extra-cover for six more as he went full.
Shepherd, though, countered with a cutter in an attempt to dupe Tilak. Only Tilak, a legitimate batter for either club, struck out more than 150 times on this pitch. India may not have liked the outcome, but failure can teach you valuable lessons, and this team still has a lot of space to improve.
Shimron Hetmyer’s diving catch at extra cover to eliminate Suryakumar on Thursday was the clearest example of the fielding that had previously lost West Indies a position in the next ODI World Cup. Sanju Samson was subsequently out for a run-a-ball 12 thanks to a direct hit from Kyle Mayers towards the end of the game.
All of the seamers continued to strike the ball with slower cutters or rapid short balls. In the 16th over, Holder even bowled a double wicket-maiden. Only four fielders were on the boundary for the final two overs of West Indies’ defense because of their slow overrate, but McCoy and Shepherd calmly finished it off for them.