A terrific unbeaten century from Shai Hope usurped KL Rahul’s efforts as West Indies hunted down 352 in New Chandigarh to win the final ODI. Rahul smashed his highest ODI score to power India to 351/7 but Hope opened the innings despite keeping wickets for 50 overs and still managed to stay right until the end to finish unbeaten on 162 to guide his side to a consolation win with 10 balls to spare.
Opting to bat after winning the toss in the dead rubber, India handed Anshul Kamboj a debut. This time, there were no heroics up top for India as Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli were both sent packing in just the third over. Gill, who had already smashed a century and a double century in the series, edged a delivery down the leg side to fall for 1 and Kohli departed for a golden duck in the same over by Jayden Seales.
Rohit Sharma and Ruturaj Gaikwad then stemmed the rot with a watchful stand initially as India were 28/2 after 11 overs. The fact that they breached 350 from here was remarkable with Rohit kickstarting the recovery. Rohit switched gears with a six whereas Gaikwad was living a charmed life with the West Indies fielders repeatedly putting him down. Rohit managed to bring up his fifty and went on a boundary-hitting spree to boost India’s run rate, with Gaikwad also catching up with his third six of the innings. Rohit looked well on course to bringing up another ODI century but he mistimed a pull to fall 8 short of three figures.
Gaikwad at the other end went past fifty but luck did eventually run out, leaving the onus on Rahul to guide the innings further. The Indian wicketkeeper had Naman Dhir for company and both batters counterattacked to put West Indies on the backfoot but the visitors sensed an opportunity when Dhir and Nitish Reddy failed to make a substantial impact. After bringing up his fifty, Rahul had to rally around India’s tail at the back end of the innings and he pulled off a sublime job.
Kamboj contributed with a couple of sixes before departing and Gurnoor Brar did his bit to ensure Rahul was on strike for the major part of the final five overs. Clubbing a six over deep midwicket to move into the nineties, Rahul went berserk in the final two overs of the innings hammering four sixes and a four to help India finish with another 350 plus total in ODI cricket.
Even though there was a daunting target in front of them, West Indies once again made a top start. John Campbell kickstarted the chase with a couple of boundaries in the very first over and Hope picked on Kamboj for successive boundaries. Two more boundaries followed suit in the next over as the visitors raced to 33/0 in just three overs. Mohammed Siraj then gave India a timely breakthrough by castling Campbell but Amir Jangoo and Hope didn’t let the start go to waste as they stabilised the chase. At one point, Jangoo took on the scoring mantle and even surpassed Hope enroute his third successive fifty-plus score in the series.
By the end of the 20th over, the century partnership had laid the platform for the chase. Ironically, it was a misfield that paved the way for a dismissal that saw Jangoo depart for 67 but it didn’t deter West Indies. Hope continued to make merry and was involved in another half-century stand that kept his side afloat. Hope went past three figures for the 21st time in his ODI career after the departure of Sherfane Rutherford, and then took a backseat with Keemo Paul taking charge. With their confidence sky high after posting over 400 last game, West Indies didn’t cave in as the equation came down to 81 from the final 10 overs with a well-set Hope and Paul in the middle.
India found an opening when Paul took on a short ball and found the fielder and Kuldeep came back to pile on the pressure with the wicket of Matthew Forde. With Jewel Andrew injured and not walking out to bat, West Indies briefly felt the pinch following these two dismissals. But once again, the skipper stood tall and absorbed the pressure. He took on Kuldeep in his final over for a six and a four before taking full toll on India being penalised for a slow over rate that forced an extra fielder inside the circle. His calculated assault saw him find the boundary off successive deliveries against Brar before a 22-run Kamboj over pretty much sealed the deal.
Brief scores: India 351/7 in 50 overs (KL Rahul 129*, Rohit Sharma 92; Jayden Seales 3-62) lost to West Indies 352/5 in 48.2 overs (Shai Hope 162*, Amir Jangoo 67; Naman Dhir 1-33) by 5 wickets.
