India was blown away by Caribbeans on Sunday night in the second ODI at Thiruvananthapuram, with Shivam Dube alone shining for the home side.
Asked to bat first after losing the toss, India lost KL Rahul on a difficult batting pitch. Rohit Sharma played an adventurous flick that only found his stumps. Shivam Dube, who surprisingly came in to bat at no.3 position, however, was a revelation. Though his start was scratchy, the tall Mumbaikar began to assert himself as he hit Jason Holders for two sixes in one over. Even as it seemed that he was predominantly favored leg-side, a full toss outside the off-stump was dispatched with ease over the long-off boundary. Just when he was looking set for a big knock, he hit one too many, skying Walsh to Hetmyer at covers.
The tall Indian lad summoned memories of Yuvraj Singh with his strokes, his built and gait. That he is also a handy medium pacer only reinforces the fact that he could be the veteran player’s successor.
Following his dismissal, barring Rishabh Pant, no other Indian batsman could stick around. India wound up their innings with their score at 170 for 7. West Indies got off to a cautious start before Ewin Lewis found his touch again. Even his mishits traveled over the boundary ropes. Lendl Simmons found his form after he slog-swept Washington Sundar for a maximum.
It didn’t help the hosts as two catches of both the openers were put down in Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s second over. The first was a straightforward skier off Simmons’s bat that was put down by Sundar and Lewis’s edge was put down by Pant who initially after moving to his left then tried to lunge to his right.
Lewis got out in the tenth over when attempting to heave Sundar, he stepped out to hit and was stumped by Pant. Hetmyer (23 off 14balls) played a nice cameo as he put Jadeja to the sword. But as he was eyeing his fourth six off the innings, skipper Kohli took a spectacular running catch and ensured that he did not step over the boundary ropes.
Nicholas Pooran, who missed the last match, played fluently, stroking to all parts of the ground in the company of Simmons who fed off singles and an occasional boundary. After that Windies romped home without any hiccups and chased the target with six balls to spare.
