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The acceleration after Rohit's hundred, for which he is known, was even greater, scoring 62 in the final 39 balls off his innings. © crick247.blogspot.com |
Windies have shown a lot of fight in this series. They've found heroes in unexpected times. They've punched above their collective weights. They've even shown the skill required to take on a real heavyweight in its own backyard. But unfortunately, none of the aforementioned held true on Monday (October 29), a day where they found themselves in a hot, boiling mess against a team that appeared to have found its mojo back.
India were desperate for a response. They've had to answer far too many questions for their liking in this series, as a second-string Windies unit has stretched them out of their comfort zone. Today, they couldn't have answered with a better performance. First, they racked up 377 on the board, and then cranked it on in the field to prick Windies' chase before it could even begin properly. The visitors were 77 for 7, and were only saved from their worst-ever defeat by a late hand from captain Jason Holder, eventually conceding a 224-run win.
Windies should've known something was up when they saw local lad Rohit Sharma charge down at Kemar Roach in only the fifth over of the game. India had won the toss on a fresh pitch at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai and opted to bat. They had reinforced their batting line-up with the inclusions of Kedar Jadhav and Ravindra Jadeja after Pune's disappointment. And then came that charge: a demoralising heave to clatter Roach's length ball into the midwicket roof.
As the innings progressed, there were many other hits which may not have resonated quite as much, but they all counted as India smashed 202 off the final 20 overs to soar to an imposing total. The foundation of this came from a partnership of 211 between Rohit and Ambati Rayudu, both scoring hundreds and both knocks glittered with some fine strokeplay - typical of themselves.
India's start was marked with aggression from Shikhar Dhawan, unwilling to respect the new ball. He didn't take long to take over as the aggressor from Rohit, whipping a couple of sixes off his pads off the pacers. He didn't allow the offspinner, Ashley Nurse, to settle either. Brought on as early as the eighth over in order to slow things down, Nurse was taken for consecutive boundaries.
But Dhawan's malaise of not converting his starts caught up with him. That aspect of his batting has been quite glaring this year: he has fallen nine times between 30 and 50. Another glaring thing about the dismissal was the bowler's celebration. After Dhawan swatted his short ball straight to midwicket, Keemo Paul responded with the southpaw's trademark thigh-slap, making sure he was seen in the act; Dhawan took it with a smile.
At this stage India were 71 for 1 in the 12th over and Virat Kohli was walking out sensing runs. Here, of all places, that inevitable hundred was looking more inevitable. But it was not to be. Stunning the crowd, Roach went wide of the crease, got the ball to hold from a length and found Kohli's edge to the keeper, gone for 16. Windies were buoyed. They now had a shot at India's wobbly middle-order. Or so they thought.
Fiercely backed for the No.4 spot by his skipper, Rayudu settled in very quickly along with Rohit, who was moving along in his fluent manner. They eased the shock of Kohli's dismissal and quickly got India rolling along. From overs 16 to 21, which included the wicket of the Indian captain, the hosts managed only 15 runs. But the duo of Rohit and Rayudu changed gears seamlessly after that phase.
Soon enough, the ball was disappearing to the fence on a regular basis as Windies lost the plot. Rohit, who had taken 60 balls to get to fifty, took only a further 38 as he brought up his 21st ODI hundred. The acceleration after the hundred, for which he is known, was even greater, scoring 62 in the final 39 balls off his innings. But just when he was poised for his fourth double-hundred, he chased after a wide one from Nurse and spooned it off a thick edge to short third man, perishing for 162, that came just in 137 balls.
Rayudu, himself, stepped it up rather impressively too. Taking his time to start off, at 24 off 35, he more than made up for it with an 80-ball hundred - his third in ODI cricket, which will certainly help in making him feel secure at the No.4 spot. Both, Rohit and Rayudu, fell in the slog overs but that wasn't going to pull India back.
Brabourne, on its ODI return after 12 years, played its part in the run-barrage as it dished out the truest pitch of the series. Good bounce, ball coming on nicely, short boundaries, go swing for the fences. At least that's what the order of the day seemed to be at the halfway stage. But then, under lights, Khaleel found swing.
Introduced in the 10th over, the left-armer got the fairly new ball to talk and scythed through the Windies non-challenge. With a three-wicket burst, he ran through the middle-order, including Shimron Hetymer who had no answer to his lovely outswinger, and ended any last hopes that might have had the scope of taking shape.
There could've been better efforts. The least they could've done was give themselves a chance against the swinging ball. But Rovman Powell, armed with a highly ambitious swipe against Khaleel's inswinger, was vehemently against it, and left his stumps to bear the brunt of his actions.
At 77 for 7, all Windies could've prayed for was to avoid the ignominy of their worst ODI defeat. Holder bailed them out in that regard, finding the boundary enough times, even raising a half-century, before Kuldeep ran through the rest.
The start of the chase was no less chaotic. Some ridiculous running between the wickets cost them the wickets of star batsman Shai Hope, for a duck, and Kieron Powell for 4. It never allowed them to get a grip on things.
India have now protected the series with a 2-1 lead, with just one match to play. Windies can still share the trophy, but not if they play like this at Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday (November 1).
Brief scores: SCORECARD
India won by 224 runs
India Innings377-5 (50)
Batsman
R
B
4s
6s
SR
Rohit Sharma
c Chandrapaul Hemraj b A Nurse
162
137
20
4
118.25
Shikhar Dhawan
c K Powell b Keemo Paul
38
40
4
2
95.00
Virat Kohli (c)
c Shai Hope b Roach
16
17
2
0
94.12
Ambati Rayudu
run out (Fabian Allen)
100
81
8
4
123.46
MS Dhoni (wk)
c Chandrapaul Hemraj b Roach
23
15
2
0
153.33
Kedar Jadhav
not out
16
7
3
0
228.57
Ravindra Jadeja
not out
7
4
1
0
175.00
Extras
15
(b 6, lb 1, w 7, nb 1, p 0)
Total
377
(5 wkts, 50 Ov)
Did not Bat
Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, K Khaleel Ahmed, Jasprit Bumrah
Fall of Wickets
71-1 (Shikhar Dhawan, 11.5), 101-2 (Virat Kohli, 16.4), 312-3 (Rohit Sharma, 43.5), 344-4 (Ambati Rayudu, 47.1), 355-5 (MS Dhoni, 48.3)
Bowler
O
M
R
W
NB
WD
ECO
Kemar Roach
10
0
74
2
0
0
7.40
Jason Holder (c)
9
0
62
0
0
3
6.89
Ashley Nurse
8
0
57
1
0
2
7.13
Keemo Paul
10
0
88
1
1
2
8.80
Rovman Powell
4
0
23
0
0
0
5.75
Fabian Allen
8
0
52
0
0
0
6.50
Marlon Samuels
1
0
14
0
0
0
14.00
Powerplays
Overs
Runs
Mandatory
0.1-10
56
Windies Innings153-10 (36.2)
Batsman
R
B
4s
6s
SR
Chandrapaul Hemraj
c Rayudu b Bhuvneshwar
14
16
1
1
87.50
Kieran Powell
run out (Kohli)
4
12
1
0
33.33
Shai Hope (wk)
run out (Kuldeep Yadav)
0
2
0
0
0.00
Marlon Samuels
c Rohit b K Khaleel Ahmed
18
23
3
0
78.26
Shimron Hetmyer
lbw b K Khaleel Ahmed
13
11
2
0
118.18
Rovman Powell
b K Khaleel Ahmed
1
9
0
0
11.11
Jason Holder (c)
not out
54
70
1
2
77.14
Fabian Allen
c Rohit b Kuldeep Yadav
10
17
1
0
58.82
Ashley Nurse
c Rohit b Kuldeep Yadav
8
13
1
0
61.54
Keemo Paul
st Dhoni b Ravindra Jadeja
19
18
1
2
105.56
Kemar Roach
b Kuldeep Yadav
6
27
0
0
22.22
Extras
6
(b 0, lb 4, w 2, nb 0, p 0)
Total
153
(10 wkts, 36.2 Ov)
Fall of Wickets
20-1 (Chandrapaul Hemraj, 4.2), 20-2 (Shai Hope, 4.4), 20-3 (Kieran Powell, 5.2), 45-4 (Shimron Hetmyer, 9.3), 47-5 (Rovman Powell, 11.3), 56-6 (Marlon Samuels, 13.4), 77-7 (Fabian Allen, 18.5), 101-8 (Ashley Nurse, 22.4), 132-9 (Keemo Paul, 27.5), 153-10 (Kemar Roach, 36.2)
Bowler
O
M
R
W
NB
WD
ECO
Bhuvneshwar Kumar
5
1
30
1
0
2
6.00
Jasprit Bumrah
8
1
25
0
0
0
3.13
K Khaleel Ahmed
5
0
13
3
0
0
2.60
Ravindra Jadeja
10
1
39
1
0
0
3.90
Kuldeep Yadav
8.2
0
42
3
0
0
5.04
Powerplays
Overs
Runs
Mandatory
0.1-10
45
Match Info
Match
IND vs WI, 4th ODI, Windies tour of India, 2018
Date
Monday, October 29, 2018
Toss
India won the toss and opt to bat
Time
08:00 AM GMT
Venue
Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai
Umpires
Ian Gould, Anil Chaudhary
Third Umpire
Paul Wilson
Match Referee
Chris Broad
India Squad
Playing XI
Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli (c), Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni (wk), Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, K Khaleel Ahmed, Jasprit Bumrah
Bench
Rishabh Pant, Lokesh Rahul, Umesh Yadav, Manish Pandey, Yuzvendra Chahal
Windies Squad
Playing XI
Kieran Powell, Chandrapaul Hemraj, Shai Hope (wk), Marlon Samuels, Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell, Jason Holder (c), Fabian Allen, Ashley Nurse, Kemar Roach, Keemo Paul
Bench
Sunil Ambris, Obed McCoy, Oshane Thomas, Devendra Bishoo
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