India clinched the One Day Cricket series against West Indies by winning the second match with two wickets. Chasing a huge target of 312, the Indian campaign suffered regular jolts. It was in the end, the middle order led by Axar Patel snatched the match from West Indies.
At 79, India lost Shikhar Dhawan (13), Shubham Gill (43) and Suryakumar Yadav (9). Then Shreyas Iyer (63) and Sanju Samson (54) showed some spine and played their natural games. Deepak Hooda 33 too displayed few glimpses of his batting talent. Yet it took the onslaught of Man of the Match Axar Patel 35 ball 64 with 3 boundaries and 5 sixes to ensure India achieved the target with 2 balls remaining.
Earlier, Hope and Mayers gave West Indies flying start making 50 in just 7 overs. In the process, Indian pacers Avesh Khan and Shardul Thakur were dealt with brutally.
Shikhar Dhawan quickly brought Hooda on attack who removed Mayers on his first ball in tenth overs to break the dangerous looking partnership. Left arm spinner Axar Patel got rid of Brooks 35 when he was consolidating the inning together with Hope. Another spinner Chahal made his presence felt by taking the wicket of King who went for an enthusiastic shot.
But captain Pooran rose to the occasion and took Indian bowlers for a ride. He was bowled by Shardul Thakur on 74 at a time when he and Hope were looking set to take his side to a huge total. Soon, Hope reaches the century in style with a mammoth Six.
Thakur got another crucial breakthrough as he dismissed Hope on 115. Thus, he played a crucial role in restricting the West Indies total to an achievable level.
The feature of both the India West Indies match was the very tight finish.
