After facing a defeat against India in the second ODI, West Indies skipper Nicholas Pooran expressed his eagerness to win the next game. Half-centuries from Shreyas Iyer, Sanju Samson and Axar Patel helped Team India win the second ODI of the three-match series against West Indies by two wickets at Queens Park Oval stadium in Port of Spain on Sunday. “Definitely, last couple of overs we didn’t hold our nerves. Last 6 overs, we lost the game. We felt a spinner was easier to hit. We just needed one wicket to seal the game but Axar played really well,” said Pooran in a post-match presentation. “His (Hope’s) 100th ODI, he was exceptional to get a hundred. We did an exceptional job with the batting group. We tried to compete really hard. We want to win really bad,” he added.
India has now taken a winning 2-0 lead in the series. Struggling at 79/3, a 99-run stand between Iyer (63) and Samson (54) provided stability to their innings.
In the end contributions from Deepak Hooda (33) and Axar Patel (64*) proved to be extremely vital in taking the visitors to a win. West Indies lost control of the match despite sending back the top order in the early stages of the match and despite posting a huge total on the board themselves.
Chasing 312, India was off to a solid start. Shubman Gill showed a lot of intent from start and smashed some good boundaries. His partner, skipper Shikhar Dhawan was the less aggressive of the two.
At the end of 10 overs, India stood at 42/0, with Gill (30*) and Dhawan (12*).
The duo had stitched a stand of 48 runs before pacer Romario Shepherd intervened to dismiss a struggling Dhawan for 13 off 31 balls.
Shreyas Iyer was next up on crease. Gill was well settled on the crease and looked on track to complete his second straight fifty, but got caught and bowled by Kyle Mayers for 43 off 49 balls. At this point, India stood at 65/2 and Suryakumar Yadav was next on the crease.
Suryakumar showed some intent with a huge six, but the ball hit the inside edge of his bat and left his stumps rattled when he was at 9. Mayers struck once again for the hosts and with these three wickets within a short span of time, Windies looked really strong. India stood at 79/3 at this point, in desperate need of a partnership.
Wicketkeeper Sanju Samson was next on the crease and resumed the chase with Iyer. The duo maintained some good running between the wickets and occasionally went for big hits. The duo brought up their 50-run stand in 52 balls.
Shreyas was looking really good, bringing up his 11th half-century in the format with a four through deep midwicket, which also took India beyond the 150-run mark. The 30th over bowled by Mayers proved to be extremely expensive, giving away 16 runs.
The duo started accelerating after bringing up their 50-run stand. The duo fell short one run of forming a 100-run stand after Iyer was trapped leg before wicket by pacer Alzarri Joseph for 63 off 71 balls.
Next up on the crease was Deepak Hooda. Hooda-Samson kept the scoreboard ticking for India. Samson brought up his maiden fifty off 47 balls with a four through the fine leg region. The duo had added only 27 runs before Samson was dismissed for 54 off 51 balls. India was 205/5 at this point, with 107 more runs to go.
Axar Patel was next up on the crease. At the end of 40 overs, India stood at 212/5, with Axar (4*) and Hooda (18*). Men in Blue needed 100 runs in the final ten overs. The scoreboard kept moving for India with the duo attempting some big hits. They took India to the 250-run mark.
Axar-Hooda brought up their 50-run stand in 31 balls. The equation came down to 56 runs required in the final six overs. Hooda was dismissed for 33 off 36 by spinner Akeal Hosein after being caught by Hayden Walsh at backward point.
Shardul Thakur was next up on the crease. Patel continued to look good with the bat. The 46th over of the game by Alzarri Joseph was expensive and took a lot of pressure off India’s batters. Just when it looked India will continue turning the game in their favour, Thakur was dismissed for 3 runs by Joseph after being caught by Brooks at deep cover.
Avesh Khan was next on the crease. The equation was down to 32 off 24 balls. Patel brought up his maiden fifty in just 27 balls, single-handedly carrying on the chase as the last recognised batter.
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19 were needed in the final three overs. Patel and Khan had the responsibility to not lose their wickets and take India across the finishing line. Patel was dismissed for 10 by Jayden Seales.
Mohammed Siraj was next on the crease. India needed eight in the final over. Patel sealed the match for India with a massive six on the fourth ball of the over, finishing at 64* off 35 balls with three fours and five sixes.
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