India defeated the 9th ranked West Indies by 3-1 in the five-match ODI series completed yesterday Sabina Park, Jamaica.
It was a dominating performance by Men in Blue who lost the fourth match at Antigua by 11 runs. There were chances given to few players who did not get a chance before this.
Here we look at the 5 things we learned from West Indies- India ODI series:
- Ajika Rahane re-establishing himself as an opener in ODI cricket
Ajyinka Rahane was given a chance in the ODI series against West Indies, as Rohit Sharma was rested for this series. He got to open in every match this series and grabbed it with both hands. In the Champions Trophy 2017, he was the third back up opener but did not get a chance. When the team was in trouble, Rahane played important innings at the top and steadied the innings. He scored 62, 103, 72, 60 and 39 runs in the series. In total, Rahane made 336 runs in 5 matches with an average of 67.2. He was named the man of the series.
- Kuldeep Yadav
Kuldeep Yadav was bought into the team as a replacement for Jasprit Bumrah. He was one of the backups selected for Champions Trophy. Yadav did a great job with the ball taking 8 wickets in 4 matches. He bowled with great control and confused the West Indies batsmen. His best figures in the series were 3 for 41 in 10 overs at Port of Spain, Trinidad during the second ODI. The China men bowler made his Test debut during the fourth Test against Australia at Dharamsala this year. In the future ODI matches, Kuldeep Yadav would go to bowler for Virat Kohli in ODI format as Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja bowled well in patches.
- No team cant be taken lightly
This series was supposed to be an easy series for team India as they were to win 5-0. The first match was washed out due to rain. In the second and third match of the series, India dominated winning the matches easily. While in the fourth match at Antigua, West Indies team posted 189 for 9 in 50 overs. India lost early wickets and then MS Dhoni played slow innings of 54 in 114 balls due to the slow pitch which led them to lose the match by 11 runs , but in the final match India showed their dominance and won the match by 8 wickets to seal the series 3-1.
It shows that no team in the world can’t be taken for granted. In the past 1 month, India lost to lower ranked teams like Sri Lanka, Pakistan and West Indies. A team has to play good cricket with regards to the opponent rankings. West Indies lacked experience in the team which led the hosts losing the series 1-3.
- It”s time to think beyond seniors
With the 2019 World Cup in mind, the BCCI must look beyond from seniors like Yuvraj Singh, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Rishabh Pant was included in the 15 for the series but was not given a chance in the entire series. Yuvraj Singh played in 3 matches during the series. He scored 4, 14, and 39 in the three matches he featured. He was dropped for the rest of two matches. Dinesh Karthik was given a chance in the fourth and fifth ODI in which he made 2, 50*.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni also played a key role in helping India win matches. He made 9*, 13*, 78*, 54 in the four matches. The BCCI must look to give youngsters like Iyer, Sanju Samson, Chahal chances ahead of the World Cup.
- Kedar Jadhav and Hardik Pandya as all-rounders
Hardik Pandya did a great job in the five matches. With the ball, he picked 6 wickets in 4 matches. He bowled with pace and did not allow the West Indies batsmen to score runs easily. Apart from that, Pandya is learning to finish games. Also, Kedar Jadhav did a decent job with the bat and ball. With the bat, he scored 13*, 40*, 10 in the chances he got. His bowling was also good taking 2 wickets. This shows that the Indian team has good all-rounders who can bat and bowl well in crucial moments.