The Indian team has finally shown their dominance in the ODI format by winning the final ODI against West Indies by 46 runs to register a series whitewash 3-0.
IND vs WI 2022, 3rd ODI
Prasidh Krishna & Kuldeep Yadav ensured that the Caribbean side never get going in their chase of 266 runs.
Chasing a decent total of 266 runs, West Indies lost their three wickets within five overs which helped India to take command of the entire match. Mohammed Siraj provided the first breakthrough to India by dismissing Shai Hope for an lbw while Deepak Chahar removed Brandon King and Shamarh Brooks to put India on top.
Darren Bravo & Nicholas Pooran provided some stability to the Windies innings after scoring 43 & 49 for the fourth wicket, which was the only flourishing stand of the West Indies squad.
By scalping early wickets India was able to restrict Windies from scoring big & Rohit Sharma took full advantage of this situation. Prasidh Krishna struck in his third over to dismiss the big fish- Bravo who was caught at second slip by Virat Kohli. In his fourth over, Krishna had Jason Holder nipped out & caught at first slip to leave West Indies reeling for runs. Windies were trying to recover from the loss but just two balls later, Kuldeep Yadav handed Fabian Allen a duck and then got Pooran caught at first slip to end any hopes of West Indies to return to winning terms.
This time also Windies Odean Smith displayed his power-hitting capability & struck two fours against Kuldeep Yadav & then followed them with consecutive sixes against the spinner in the 21st over to race to 21 off 7. Smith was dropped once by Suryakumar Yadav & he eventually smashed 36 off 18 before falling to Siraj.
Earlier the match unfolded with India winning the toss & opting to bat first. Rohit Sharma started their innings with an array of boundaries but was bowled in the fourth over by Alzarri Joseph. Two balls later, Virat Kohli flicked a leg-side ball to the keeper to fall for a buck. It was the second time in the series that Joseph managed to dismiss both Rohit and Kohli in the same over.
Shikhar Dhawan took some time to get settled on the crease but once he opened his account he got going with a six against Kemar Roach. However, he soon fell to Odean Smith after being caught at first slip as India was left struggling for runs. Rishabh Pant eventually scored at a strike rate of more than 100 but made a slow & watchful start. It was only in the 14th over that he got going with a boundary against Smith. After losing three wickets in the opening ten overs, India played out the next 20 overs without losing any wicket.
Shreyas Iyer got off to his half-century first & Pant completed his fifty in 29th over off 47 balls. Rishabh Pant was hitting boundaries at regular intervals & looked in good touch to register his maiden ODI ton. However, after hitting a boundary against Hayden Walsh he tried to cut a ball too close & was caught behind. Suryakumar Yadav also fell prey to Windies bowling after smashing a boundary & the onus to build up the innings again came on Iyer’s shoulder.
Walsh struck again in the 38th over to remove Shreyas Iyer for blistering 80 off 111 as the batter was caught at the long-on trying to up the ante. Deepak Chahar struck four fours & two sixes during his run-a-ball 38 runs to push India over 250 while Washington Sundar held one end up to give him company. Jason Holder holder chipped in with quick wickets of Chahar and Kuldeep in the death overs to restrict India from scoring high but the ‘Men in Blue’ soon managed to once again post a decent total.
IND vs WI 2022, 3rd ODI, Brief scores:
India 265 in 50 overs (Shreyas Iyer 80, Rishabh Pant 56; Jason Holder 4-34) beat West Indies 169 in 37.1 (Odean Smith 36; Prasidh Krishna 3-27, Mohammed Siraj 3-29) by 96 runs.