India 351 for 7 (Rahul 129*, Rohit 92, Gaikwad 57, Seales 3-62) vs West Indies
Having needed only four batters in the first two matches, India were forced to dig deep when reduced to 4 for 2 in New Chandigarh, but Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul responded with aplomb to take them to 351 for 7.
While Rohit fell eight short of what would have been a third century in four innings, Rahul turned his only opportunity to bat in the series into his ninth ODI hundred, four of them from No. 5 in just 36 innings. He took 42 off the last 12 balls he faced to turn the hundred into his highest ODI score, adding 40 and 61 with bowlers Anshul Kamboj and Gurnoor Brar. Ruturaj Gaikwad chipped in with a fortune-filled fifty, and Naman Dhir looked superb in his 21-ball 30.
Jayden Seales, West Indies‘ best bowler all series, finally got the wickets to show for his work, two of them in two successive legal deliveries, and then Gaikwad with a brutal delivery with the old ball. After Shubman Gill gloved him down leg and Virat Kohli missed a straight ball for a golden duck, India had to endure their longest wait for a first boundary in four years. However, West Indies lent them a helping hand with at least six dropped catches – four of them from Gaikwad, some ordinary ground fielding and inconsistent bowling.
Rohit, though, had to use all his experience to absorb the early heat from not only Seales but also the support bowlers. Fresh off a 75-ball 101, Rohit had to be watchful, scoring just 21 off the first 43 balls he faced as India managed only 28 for 2 in the powerplay.
Alzarri Joseph made his best start in the series with figures of 4-1-15-0, but unlike Seales earlier, he was persisted with for a fifth straight over in the afternoon heat. India’s innings took a decisive turn in this over. Rohit calculated this was the over, the 17th, to break free. A pulled six and a cover-driven four took the innings run rate past four an over for the first time.
It turned out that Joseph’s replacement, the young Vitel Lawes, who had dropped Gaikwad off Joseph, was to be more profligate. He found some grip and turn with the first ball he bowled, but then served up two full tosses and a half-volley. A man of Rohit’s experience knows when someone is ripe for the taking. He scored 20 off eight deliveries from Lawes, completely turning around his innings and threatening to reach a hundred before the halfway mark.
Keemo Paul, who went for seven an over in his first three, managed to draw a top edge from a Rohit pull, which brought Rahul in in the 25th over. Rahul started calmly, getting accustomed to the pitch, scoring 8 off the first 14 balls he faced before cashing in on errors in length by Lawes, whom the captain had given another chance after the fall of Rohit’s wicket.
Rahul was to keep losing batting partners consistently, though. Seales came back with a nasty delivery that a forward-pressing Gaikwad had no way to handle, popping up an easy catch to point for 57 off 69. Punjab’s Dhir looked threatening in his brief stay, but he hit one straight to extra cover to make it 225 for 5 in 36 overs. The last recognised batter, Nitish Kumar Reddy, never looked fluent and edged Paul through to the keeper to leave India at 250 for 6 and nine overs for Rahul to negotiate with the bowlers.
Debutant Kamboj doesn’t have big scores in domestic cricket, but that is not what teams look for in their No. 8. They want their No. 8 to be able to hit sixes, and Kamboj did just that when Gudakesh Motie dropped short twice in the 44th over. After Kamboj got out, Brar did his job of turning the strike over competently.
The second half of the innings, though, belonged to the man Brar kept giving the strike to. He manipulated the bowling and the fields expertly to keep accelerating through the innings. He didn’t overtly farm the strike, but never looked in a hurry to take the extra run that might put him off strike. The ball striking was so efficient; all it was for bowlers to miss their yorkers by inches. Tardy over rate gave Rahul the advantage of having an extra fielder inside the circle for the last three overs of the innings, which he made excruciatingly long for West Indies as India took 50 off them.
