Bruised and battered West Indies stood up to the challenge after having their back against the wall. The Shai Hope-led Caribbean side avenged the comprehensive five-wicket defeat in first ODI with a convincing victory by six wickets over Hardik Pandya-led India at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados to level the series 1-1.
Hope won the toss and opted to field first. Pandya walked out for the coin toss as Rohit Sharma was rested alongside Virat Kohli as a part of workload management. In their absence, Sanju Samson and Axar Patel were given a chance. Hope made a couple of changes too and brought Keacy Carty, Alzarri Joseph into the side.
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 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.
“We didn't bat in the way we were supposed to. The wicket got much better than the first innings. Disappointing, but got to learn many more things. The way the openers batted, the way Kishan batted, it's important for Indian cricket. Thakur kept our hopes alive. Hope batted well, they held their nerves and got over the line,” Pandya said in the post-match presentation.
Hope was ecstatic after the win with 80 balls to spare but has sights set on the next game which will be a decider.
“I am happy, when I get a fifty, when I get a hundred and when the team wins. You got to find ways to score quickly on that wicket, especially against a quality bowling attack like India. Very satisfied. We got one win, got to win the next game to take the series. The guys are going to come hard again. We keep speaking about the attitude, and today we displayed that. We need to replicate that and need to be more consistent with the bat and ball. Complete performance I must say, the surface was challenging, the bowlers and batters did well. We want to be on the winning side and if we tick all the boxes, I am pretty sure we can achieve that,” Hope said.
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