Windies vs India, 3rd ODI – Who Said What

When Virat Kohli gets going, especially in a chase, there isn’t much you can really do. Windies realised this the hard way when they took on India in the 3rd ODI. Despite Chris Gayle firing in this game, there wasn’t much the home team could do. There were moments where the Caribbean side clearly had the advantage and seemed to be in the driver’s seat.

However, the inexperience compared to the Indian team seemed to have got the better of them. Even though they got off to a flyer in the first 10 overs, they couldn’t capitalise. They slowed down slightly in the middle overs and seemed to be pacing themselves for a 50-over game. But a rain interruption meant that the game had to be shortened to 35 overs per side. Windies couldn’t really pick themselves up in the last 10 overs and ended up with a score of 240/7.

According to the DLS method, India had to chase 255 runs and Virat Kohli led the way through with his 43rd ODI century. Shreyas Iyer was impressive yet again and registered a terrific 65 which came off just 41 balls. Shikhar Dhawan scored 36 runs as India reached the target with 15 balls and 6 wickets to spare.

Jason Holder, the Windies captain, said

We had to give ourselves a bit of time. I think the batters did a reasonable job. We were always in the game but credit to the Indian players. We let ourselves down in the recent past and we’ll have to find ways. There’s lot of work to be done. We’ve got to turn things around, it’s matter of Test guys to put their hands up and turn the fortunes.

Virat Kohli, the India captain and the Man of the Match, said

I didn’t want to disappoint you (Ian Bishop) further, you asked about the conversion rate (*laughs*). Jokes apart, last few matches, I presented a challenge to myself. The way he (Shreyas Iyer) batted out there, he took a lot of pressure off me. His knock was the game-changer. We want to have people take responsibility at different batting positions. But he certainly presented a strong case for himself. He completely played in full control and was putting pressure on the bowlers. Really good tempo, good really character.

Thankfully, it’s not a fracture (about his injury), just a split on the nail in the front. I think I should be fine for the first Test. We were a bit nervous when the rain break happened because of the fact they played so well in the first 10 overs. We felt that with DLS, the game can go out of our reach. The outfield got wet as well, we thought they could capitalise but the bowlers did a great job.

We are feeling very confident. We’ve got a practice game which will allow the players to get into the Test rhythm. We’re looking forward to two good Test matches.