Stand-in India captain Hardik Pandya assessed the Men in Blue's performance after West Indies stormed back and leveled the series 1-1 with one more ODI to be played. In a game in which captain Rohit Sharma and maverick batter Virat Kohli were rested in order to hand other players a chance, the visitors shot themselves into the foot and fizzled out for just 181 runs while batting first. The abysmal show with the bat put India behind the eight ball and Men in Maroon capitalised on the momentum to seal a six-wicket win.
After the disappointing loss, Hardik also pinpointed India's poor decision-making with the bat which ultimately led to the shock defeat against an average Windies outfit.
"See, we didn't bat like we were supposed to. The wicket played a lot better than the last one. But it's just that I think barring Shubman, everyone played their shot and kind of got out or hit the fielder directly, and yeah, disappointing, but at the same point of time, many, many more things to learn," Pandya said after the match.
India got off to a terrific start with Ishan Kishan and Shubman Gill seeing off the new ball. They shared a 90-run opening partnership. Shubman Gill had played himself in but fell to left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie. Gill scored 34 runs from 49 deliveries. Kishan got to his half-century but could not convert it into a big score. The wicketkeeper-batter contributed with a run-a-ball 55 including six fours and one six.
Samson and Patel could not make the most of the chances they got and got out for single-digit scores. Leading the side, Pandya disappointed as well and India were reduced to 113/5 before the halfway stage. Suryakumar Yadav once again got off to a good start but lost his wicket to Motie for the second time in the series. Ravindra Jadeja and Shardul Thakur could not get Indi's score past 200 either. The tail did not wag and India got all out for 181 from 40.5 overs.
In the run chase, West Indies got off to an ideal start. Kyle Mayers did the bulk of scoring during the powerplay overs. In the ninth over, Thakur got India back to the game with twin strikes. First, Mayers got out for a 28-ball 36. Then Brandon King got out lbw after scoring 15 runs. Thakur got another wicket in the form of Alick Athanaze. Kuldeep was brought into the attack and Shimron Hetmyer got bowled for a single-digit score. With 91.4 after 17 overs, the game was delicately poised between the two teams.
Hope and Carty did not panic during the run chase. They were respectful against the left-arm chinaman bowler. The spinners posed a threat but the two Caribbean batters negated it with patience. They got over the line in the 37th over. Hope remained unbeaten for 63 off 80 balls including two fours and as many sixes. On the other end, Carty scored 48 runs from 65 balls including four fours.
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