Since Virat Kohli was not seen in playing 11 against West Indies in the 3rd ODI, his motivating conversation to Hardik Pandya changed the match. After winning the match, Pandya came during the presentation where he told that Kohli told him to spend more time in the crease. And this works for him and in the end he shows great destruction in the death overs which helps India get over 350+ runs.
India won the series by 2-1. India won the 1st match by 5 wickets and the 2nd match won by West Indies by 6 wickets. In the decider match just nailed it and won the match one sided. This was India’s 13th series against the West Indies from 2007-2023. Also the 2nd highest win in terms of runs against Carribeans which is 200 runs.
In the 3rd ODI, West Indies chose to bowl first. Their decision goes wrong as India put up a drastic total of 351 runs in 50 overs with the loss of 5 wickets. Thanks to Indian batters who played superbly. Shubman Gill (85 runs), Ishan Kishan (77 runs), Hardik Pandya (70 runs not out), Sanju Samson (51 runs) helped their team to reach that score. Romario Shepherd got 2 wickets while Alzarri Joseph, Motie and Cariah got 1 wicket each.
West Indies came for batting, they started losing wickets at regular intervals and finally they managed to score 151 runs only with 10 wickets lost. India as a result won the match by 200 runs. Gudakesh Motie who came at number 10 was the highest scorer of the team with 39 runs. Three more players Alick Athanaze (32 runs), Yannic Cariah (19 runs) and Alzarri Joseph were seen in double digits. Shardul Thakur grabbed 4 wickets. Mukesh Kumar gets 3, Kuldeep Yadav gets 2 and Jaydev Unadkat gets 1 wicket.
Shubman Gill gets the Player of the Match,
“Very special for me. I was looking for a big score but unfortunately that didn’t happen and I’m happy that we ended up on the winning side. It was a good pitch, initially the ball was coming on nicely and as the ball got older it became tough to hit. In the last game, I was set and looking for a big one and tried to accelerate, you gotta keep putting the pressure on the opposition as that’s how the ODI game has evolved recently. I just try to do my best and not think too much about who’s playing or not.”
Ishan Kishan gets the Player of the Series,
“Not so happy with the finishing that I gave. I was supposed to score big after being set. That’s what my seniors told me. I should’ve stayed in and scored big. That’s what I’ll try next time, I’ll get set in the middle and score big. It’s important at this level to get set. It’s important to forget the last game and start from 0. I was thinking of taking it one ball at a time.
….Gill is a tremendous player, I’ve seen how he middles the ball. Seeing him hitting it out of the middle gives me a lot of confidence as well. Always important to win at this level, the learnings from these games are important. We were looking to get early wickets, and didn’t let any ball go. Everyone is looking positive.
….I have played a few tournaments here and I know how the wickets play here, not really thinking about the next T20 world cup. Focussing on the upcoming tournaments, you know how one tournament can change your life. We are just focusing on that now.”