India vs West Indies 2022, 2nd ODI – Who Said What

India has registered their 11th successive ODI series victory over West Indies since 2007 and has ticked a lot of boxes that were questioned after the whitewash in South Africa. Rohit’s captaincy was a delight to watch as he rotated the bowlers exceedingly well and has won his first series as full-time captain of the Indian side in ODIs. Despite, the late scare from Akeal Hossein and Odean Smith, India looked in total control of the game as West Indies kept losing wickets constantly in a low-scoring affair.

The target of 238 for the West Indies side was never going to be easy as the pitch assisted the fast bowlers really well and the extra bounce did a lot of damage. Suryakumar Yadav and KL Rahul’s 91 run partnership proved to be decisive in the end as they restitched the Indian innings when three wickets had gone early and Deepak Hooda’s little cameo of 29 towards the death overs had given the much-needed momentum for India as well.

However, India needed a spirited effort from the fast bowlers to restrict a paltry score on board and they did manage to get that exactly out of them. Prasidh Krishna was exceptionally good and his spell had dented the West Indies chase completely. He finished with figures of four for 12 in his nine overs and bowled three maidens in his outstanding spell to hand India a 44 run victory in the second ODI.

Winning skipper, Rohit Sharma said:

Obviously winning the series is a good feeling. There were some challenges. The partnership between Rahul and Surya had a lot of maturity. We got to a respectable total in the end. We knew we could fight it out. The entire unit came out and bowled superbly. It is important for these guys to bat under pressure and that is how you will judge their character. Surya had to take his time and understand what the team wants from him. KL also batted superbly as he is consistently up and down in the order. I have been asked to try something different. We wanted to try it one game. Shikhar should be back for the next game. We don’t mind losing a few games trying out a few things. Because it is important to look at the long term goals. We will see what works out well for the team combination. I was a little surprised to see no due. I have never seen a spell like that in India for a long time now. Bowled with a lot of pace and kept it going. The others complimented him. When you have five bowlers and Deepak being sixth, you always need to keep rotating the bowlers.

Losing skipper, Nicholas Pooran said:

With the bat, we didn’t build partnerships. We kept losing wickets at regular intervals. In the 39th over, we lost Fabian first and then Hosein in the very next. We need to continue to be aggressive. Pollard is a tough and big guy and should be back. Smith is a strong guy. He is a little inexperienced but sky is the limit for him. We did a good job with the ball and hopefully we can do the same in the final game. And also do better with the bat.

Player of the Match said, Prasidh Krishna said:

I have been striving hard to do this for a long time. So, I am very happy that we won. I was still looking to hit the good areas. When I came in to bat, I knew it was still seaming. I would have laughed it off. I had seen the wicket in the last game. Experimenting wasn’t possible as there was not much to defend. So, I stuck to good lines. Be as consistent as possible. The white ball cricket is a power game.