Picture : BCCI/ Twitter
India came out all guns blazing to beat West Indies by 200 runs in the third ODI to win the series 2-1. Opener Shubman Gill tapered off after a blazing start but Ishan Kishan’s golden run of form and Sanju Samson’s impactful fifty ( 51) powered India a commanding 351 for five against the West Indies in the third ODI.
Skipper Hardik Pandya’s smashing 70 off 52 balls helped India cross the 350-run mark as he provided the finishing touches to the innings with four boundaries and five sixes.
Gill, who has had a quiet Caribbean sojourn so far, finally found some rhythm with 85 off 92 balls but the way he sowed down after a superb start in power-play did hurt India between overs 30 and 40.
For the West Indies the the huge target chase was out of question. Mukesh Kumar’s (3/30 in 7 overs) three-wicket burst with some quality seam bowling in the first Powerplay dashed West Indies’ hopes as they were shot out for 151 in only 35.3 overs.
Gudakesh Motie (39 not out) and Alzarri Joseph (26) delayed the inevitable with a 55-run stand for the ninth wicket.
Shardul Thakur (4/37 in 6.3 overs), Jaydev Unadkat (1/16 in 5 overs) and Kuldeep Yadav (2/25 in 8 overs) were also am
Leading the team in place of rested Rohit Sharma, all- rounder Hardik Pandya in post- match conference said, stalwarts Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli needed to be rested for the second and third ODIs against West Indies to help India give opportunities to youngsters ahead of the World Cup.
“Virat and Rohit are very integral part of the team. And, you know, obviously, this was very important for someone like Rutu (Ruturaj Gaikwad) to get a game or Axar (Patel) to get a game because they’ve been playing cricket for so many years, they know how exactly all these situations have been.
