India head coach Gautam Gambhir, who was critical of the pitch used in the second ODI against West Indies, summed up his team’s 2-1 series win on Saturday with an intriguing post. Up 2-0 against the men from the Caribbean nation, India were made to sweat in the third and final ODI as Shai Hope speared his team home to salvage a morale-boosting win in New Chandigarh. Reflecting on the team’s performance, Gambhir shared a post on social media, highlighting the hard work Shubman Gill‘s men put on the field to win the series, but also had a special message for the touring West Indies.
Gambhir was quite critical of the nature of pitches rolled by the organisers for the 3-match series. After the conclusion of the second ODI, which saw over 800 runs being scored by the two teams cumulatively, he bluntly labelled the match as ‘no cricket’. After the third ODI, which was also a high-scoring contest, Gambhir’s remarks on social media were a little different.
“A series won through belief and hard work. Proud of our boys. Respect to West Indies for making us earn it,” Gambhir wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
A series won through belief and hard work. Proud of our boys. Respect to West Indies for making us earn it. https://t.co/VjXOO6N00C
— Gautam Gambhir (@GautamGambhir) October 3, 2026
As for the match, India put 351 runs on the board and though the total was enough but that didn’t turn out to be the case. West Indies skipper Shai Hope played a monumental knock of 162 not out at a strike rate of 113.29, and guided the visitors to their highest-ever successful run chase in ODI history and secured their first win over India in the format since 2023.
“A lot of boxes ticked. I think there are still some areas that definitely need some fine-tuning. I was very happy with the total. I think the game was in control. But being behind four overs with this team and then in the last, I think they took the game away from us. Had we not been shortened the overs, the game might have gone to the last over.
“Death bowling as well. I feel, sometimes we are not really clear whether we are attacking or we are defending, especially when we are bowling the death overs. One day, such a game, if the opposition is five or six down, you are never really sure what fields to take, whether we are going for the death too early or we are still bowling kind of like middle overs. I think these are some areas which definitely we need to be better at,” Gill said in the post-match presentation ceremony.
With IANS Inputs
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