Ishan Kishan scored his third successive half-century on this West Indies tour, but India suffered a dramatic collapse as they were bowled out for 181 in the second ODI at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown on Saturday.
From 90 without loss in the 17th over, India, after being put into bat by the Windies, first slumped to 113/5 in 24.1 overs before rain stalled the proceedings for quite some time. When action resumed after 45 minutes, Suryakumar Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja tried to rebuild the innings, but the Windies bowlers showed some tenacity to ensure they did not squander the advantage.
Romario Shepherd struck for the third time in the game when he got Jadeja to miscue a pull and perish at deep backward square leg. Soon after, Surya, who was looking good with three well-struck boundaries, again fell to Gudakesh Motie, undone by a bit of extra bounce the left-arm spinner extracted.
Ravindra Jadeja expresses frustration after being dismissed for a 21-ball 10 in the second ODI against the West Indies at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown on Saturday. AP/PTI
Shardul Thakur hung around for a while to take the team total close to 170 as India’s innings (lasting only 40.5 overs) ended soon after play resumed following another rain interruption. India just couldn’t recover once they lost half their side for just 23 despite a solid start given by openers Kishan and Shubman Gill.
Poor application and technique of the current Indian batting group was also a reason behind this dismal performance. The pitch again had extra bounce which troubled the Indians to an extent.
Sanju Samson and Axar Patel — as replacements for regular captain Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, who were both rested — looked clueless. Promoted to No.4, Axar fell to a well-directed short stuff from Shepherd for just one.
Stand-in captain Hardik Pandya then perished as his pull off Jayden Seales went straight to mid-wicket And just before the rain interruption, Samson looked dumbfounded as a delivery from leg-spinner Yannic Cariah spun away and bounced just a little bit before the fielder at slip got some catching practice.
