TAROUBA (Trinidad and Tobago): India continued their dominance against the West Indies to further increase their lead as the team with the most consecutive bilateral ODI series wins against the Caribbeans.
India’s mammoth 200-run victory marked their 13th consecutive ODI series win against the Windies. The last time India suffered an ODI series defeat at the hands of the Caribbean team which stretches back to 17 years.
India lost the ODI series by 4-1 in 2006 against the West Indies team which was led by the legendary cricketer Brian Lara. India opened the series with a five-wicket victory, but after that, the West Indies went on to win the remaining four consecutive games to clinch the five-match ODI series. Other than the West Indies, India also have 10 consecutive ODI series wins against Sri Lanka.
After India, their arch-rivals Pakistan hold the second most consecutive ODI series wins against Zimbabwe. Pakistan have won 11 consecutive ODI series against Zimbabwe. They also have 10 consecutive ODI series wins against West Indies.
Coming to the game, while chasing a huge total of 352, West Indies lost their first wicket early as Mukesh Kumar dismissed Brandon King on a duck in the first over. Mukesh again struck the wicket, clearing up WI captain Shai Hope at 5.
Shubman Gill took the catch at the slip. Suffering from Mukesh’s class swing, West Indies were 17/3 after 7 overs. West Indies continued to crumble as Shardul Thakur dismissed Romario Shepherd (8) on a bounce in the 14th over. Shepherd tried a pull shot, but he found Unadkat in the deep backward square.
Gudakesh Motie and Alzarri Joseph bounced back as they added 50–run partnership in 47 balls for the 9th wicket. However, their partnership came to an end after Thakur dismissed Joseph at 26 with a bouncer. Ishan Kishan caught Joseph in a failed pull shot.
Thakur picked the last wicket by clearing up Jayden Seales with an angled ball hitting the stumps. India won by a massive 200 runs in 35.3 overs.
Earlier, the outstanding opening partnership of 143 runs between Ishan Kishan and Shubman Gill followed by quickfire knocks from Sanju Samson and Hardik Pandya powered India to 351/5.
Gill scored the highest for India with 85 off 92 while Kishan played a fine knock of 77 runs. Stand-in captain Hardik Pandya played a fiery unbeaten knock of 70 runs off 52 while Sanju Samson also smashed a vital 51 runs off 41 balls. Romario Shepherd scalped two wickets for West Indies, conceding 73 runs in his 10 overs spell.
India will now square off against the West Indies in a five-match T20I series, which will begin on Thursday. (ANI)