Despite rains playing spoilsport for the majority of the third and final ODI between India and the West Indies at Port of Spain in Trinidad on Wednesday night, the visiting side had no qualms in recording their biggest win of the three-match bilateral affair. India crushed the West Indies by a huge margin of 119 runs — after the first two ODIs were nail-biting finishers with the Shikhar Dhawan-led side proving to be better across departments.
Irrespective of their experience and the knowledge of local conditions, the Indian team came out stronger and better on all three occasions against the West Indies side, which has been on a downward spiral in ODI cricket with their sudden, shocking slide yet to be addressed despite having all the best resources available to them.
On Wednesday, a maximum of 36 overs were allowed per side after long and multiple rain interventions.
But such is the state of the West Indies ODI side at the moment that neither could they prevent India and Shubman Gill (98*) from raking up runs, nor could they manage to put runs on the board. The West Indies batsmen had a free fall — shot out for just 137 in 26 overs with two batsmen, Shamarh Brooks and Brandon King, making an identical 42 each.
For India, all of their bowlers were impressive. Deepak Hooda didn’t take a wicket in his 4-over spell but gave away just 16 runs. Yuzvendra Chahal continued to make giant strides, returning with 4-0-17-4. Shardul Thakur and Mohammed Siraj claimed two wickets each whereas Akshar Patel and Prasidh Krishna claimed one apiece.
Earlier in their innings, Shubman Gill came agonisingly close to scoring his maiden ODI century but the rain gods denied him the opportunity once again on Wednesday.
The right-handed dashing opening batsman remained unbeaten on 98 from as many balls, having hit 7 boundaries and 2 sixes in the process. Shubman Gill later lamented that all he needed was one more over — India’s innings ended abruptly at 225/3 in 36 overs — after play resumed to get his century, but he would look forward to step out on the park once again in the format to get past the three-figure mark.
The experienced campaigner and leader of this bank, Shikhar Dhawan was once again convincing as he scored 58 from 74 balls with seven boundaries while middle order batsman Shreyas Iyer was unfortunate to have missed out the third consecutive century on the tour by just six runs. Shreyas Iyer scored 44 from 34 balls with 4 boundaries and a six.
The two teams will now face-off in a five-match T20I series starting on Friday at the Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba, Trinidad.
