The pitch was easier to bat on while the West Indies were also back to their mediocre best. India, put into bat and again without both regular captain Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, thus piled up 351/5 in the third and final ODI at the Brian Lara Stadium at Tarouba on Tuesday.
Stand-in captain Hardik Pandya (70 not out off 52 balls), after being watchful initially, finished the innings off in style after Ishan Kishan, Shubman Gill and Sanju Samson laid the platform with their half-centuries. Thanks to Pandya’s late onslaught, India registered their highest-ever ODI total in the Caribbean.
In reply, the Windies, reading the conditions wrong earlier, were 81/7 after 22 overs with Mukesh Kumar taking three wickets, including the vital scalp of captain Shai Hope.
As for the Windies bowlers, they seemed to have left their minds back in Bridgetown as they kept bowling the length suitable for that challenging pitch at Kensington Oval. Their ground fielding too was sloppy again.
India though made the most of helpful batting conditions with Kishan (77 off 64 balls) bringing up his fourth fifty in a row on the tour. His opening partner Gill (85 off 92 balls) also cashed in with some gorgeous strokes.
The situation could have been better for the Windies had Keacy Carty not spilled an easy chance at point when Kishan was on nine.
The Windies quicks in particular were continuously erratic as Kishan and Gill helped India romp to 143 in the 20th over. Following the dismissals of Kishan and Ruturaj
Gaikwad, Samson produced a cameo (51 off 41 balls) that brightened India’s prospects of a 350-plus total.
