Rohit Sharma’s (60, 51 balls, 10×4, 1×6) reign as India’s white-ball captain began impressively as he helped fashion a thumping six-wicket win over the West Indies on Sunday here, marshalling his resources ingeniously and then batting aggressively to put India on the victory path.
The platform for the victory on a slow, turning track was provided by India’s spin duo of Yuzevendra Chahal (9.5-49-4) and Washington Sundar (9-1-30-3). They throttled the listless West Indians before a 78-run eighth-wicket partnership between Jason Holder (71-ball, 57, 4×6) and Fabian Allen (43-ball 29, 2×4) gave the Caribbean total some semblance of respect.
Sensible Holder
Holder batted sensibly to tackle the low bounce and slow turn on the Narendra Modi Stadium wicket. He was cautious, but didn’t miss the opportunity to clobber loose balls for his four hits beyond the ropes. The beanpole of the Windies team picked Chahal for his three sixes. Besides his four sixes though, Holder held his urge to drive the Indian bowlers while taking 23 singles and five doubles. With Allen, Holder’s plan was to consume maximum overs and take the innings deep. But their departure within the space of 10 balls, saw the team fold up for 176 in 43.5 overs. It seemed a decent show, considering they were 79-7 at one stage.
West Indies’ Jason Holder during his innings of 57 yesterday
Rohit astutely handled his bowling resources and resisted the temptation to bowl spinners from both ends. In fact, he tossed the ball to Chahal only in the 20th over wherein the leg-spinner struck two successive blows, including the prized scalp of WI skipper Kieron Pollard for a duck.
Rohit also succeeded in overturning umpire Anantha Padmanabhan’s three decisions in India’s favour, but lost out to the ‘umpire’s call’ when it came to a LBW decision against him. But before he trudged back to the pavilion, the Indian skipper played a belter of an innings on a pitch that wasn’t easy for batters. It looked like he was batting on a pitch totally different from the one the Windies played on earlier. With Rohit and Ishan Kishan (28 off 36 balls, 2×4, 1×6) scoring 84 runs in just 13 overs, the home team seemed to be cruising to the victory target of 177 before a minor hiccup in the middle order triggered alarm bells.
Minor stutter for hosts
Rohit and Virat Kohli fell in the same over (14th). Then, two more wickets fell in the space of five balls, Rishabh Pant’s freakish run out. Bowler Alzarri Joseph deflected Suryakant Yadav’s straight drive onto the stumps at the non-striker’s end, catching Pant out of his crease. Yadav (34 not out, 5×4) and Hooda (26 not out, 2×4) put on 62 off 63 balls in an unbeaten fifth-wicket to take India home.
