India Vs West Indies: 5th ODI Review

The change of ground brought with it a change of luck for West Indian captain Darren Sammy. He finally won his first toss of the series and elected to field first. West Indies were looking to salvage some more pride and were looking for their second straight win while the visitors were looking to put some daylight in the series outcome.

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The hosts brought in Adrian Barath for Danza Hyatt while the Indians gave pacer Vinay Kumar a go in place of Praveen Kumar. Badrinath missed out and opener Shikhar Dhawan took his place. The Sabina Park wicket had a lot more bounce and carry and Kemar Roach and Andre Russell made life uncomfortable for the Indian top order. Parthiv Patel fell to a stunning catch from Anthony Martin while Dhawan made only 11 in what is sure to be his last ODI for quite some time. Tiwary looked nervous but hung around with Virat Kohli till the 16th over. Rohit Sharma then joined Kohli, and the two best Indian batsmen of the series played some handsome shots and built up a solid 110 run stand in 20 overs, before Kohli was unfortunate to miss out on a hundred, getting run out for 94. Captain Suresh Raina failed yet again while Rohit Sharma scored his third half century of the series. Yusuf Pathan’s cameo was not enough as India fell for a below par 251 all out, bowled out in the 48th over.

The hosts began their chase as Chris Gayle entered the ground much to the delight of the Jamaican crowd. Their most consistent batsman Lendl Simmons fell cheaply but Sarwan and Barath steadied the ship with a 41 run stand. Mishra removed Barath and Bravo and Sarwan batted with calm and composure to bring the hosts within striking distance. However Sarwan, who got to his third fifty in the series had to retire hurt and the asking rate touched ten an over. That’s when Bravo unleashed him and finally found some form before Mishra removed him for a 99 ball 86. In walked Pollard and together with Samuels carted the bowlers to all parts, sealing victory with 8 balls to spare.

Samuels went straight to Gayle and celebrated with him, which could have repercussions in the Test series. For now, the West Indies have all the momentum as the Test specialists arrived in the Caribbean islands.

Tags: 5th ODI, Cricket, IND, India, ODI Match, ODI Series, Review, Virat Kohli, West Indies, WI