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Caribbean Fireworks: West Indies End Losing Streak and Level Series Against India

image-lkpii4c6West Indies won the second ODI against India to draw level (Source: AP Photos)

The second ODI of the India tour of West Indies ends with a surprising result where the West Indies get the better of India and win by 6 wickets. It all started well for the men in blue as they put on 90 runs for the opening stand and were looking good early on. After the dismissal of Shubman Gill Shepherd and Motie caused a massive collapse and bundled out the Indians for 181. 

None of the Indian Batsmen except for Ishan Kishan who scored a great half century looked good at the crease. The West Indies were also struggling in the middle at 91-4 after 17 overs on a track that was difficult to score runs but the partnership of skipper Shai Hope and Keacy Carter made sure the West Indies chased down the total comfortably to level the series and end their 4 year losing streak to India.



India's Wicket Meltdown: Unmasking Vulnerability

image-lkpgljvbX-axis: Overs, Y-axis: Runs

The Kensington Oval in Barbados hosts another low scoring bout between the two sides where the batsmen were once again struggling to get going. The pitch at Barbados was once again a slow and dry surface where the bowlers were enjoying taking wickets. This was a chance for some players to prove themselves with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli resting to give other players opportunities. Early in the innings The Indian openers were looking good with Kishan playing with intent and Shubman just about finding his feet. 

It was Shubman Gill’s lofted drive against the spin that did him and Ishan Kishan was just a victim of an exceptional catch by Athanaze. The wickets of Axar Patel and Hardik Pandya were caused by the extra bounce which surprised them and they couldn’t get on top of them. The next wicket of Sanju Samson who was looking very rusty at the crease came with a genuine leg spinner by Cariah that had enough turn and bounce for him to edge it to first slip. 

The dismissal of Suryakumar Yadav and Jadeja was just an example of careless cricket where Jadeja was early into his pull shot and Yadav just cuts a short and wide ball to point which even though had some turn and bounce was still not a wicket taking delivery. Shardul Thakur was another victim of the uneven bounce that kept low and rapped him on the pads. 

After this collapse it was just too much to do for the tail on a surface that not only generated a lot of turn and bounce and the slowness of the track made it even tougher. Even though this was a tough track to bat on, the Indian batsmen cannot use that as an excuse as we saw some great shots from Gill and Kishan in the start and some decent shots from Sky which indicate lack of intent and poor shot selection was another major reason for their collapse.



Conclusion

In conclusion this is one of the rare moments in this current Era where West indies dominated India in the match. On the other hand the Indian experiment of leaving their star players out to give opportunities failed miserably as on a wicket like this you need some experience and there was a lot of pressure on Pandya leading the side for only a second time in ODI’s and Axar and Samson playing after a long break from international cricket. This is another example of over experimenting by the Indian team which has led to a lacklustre performance by the players.