IND vs WI | Takeaways - Kuldeep’s magnificence holds key in 1-D West Indies’ suffering
More than India, West Indies will have a lot to learn from this game, of what not to do when playing against the giants. India showcased all the disposition that was missing in the previous game in Chennai with Kuldeep making a significant comeback in Vizag, as Cuttack promises a cracker.
West Indies’ 1-D bowling plan leads to kill in deaths
West Indies’ bowling worked in the 1st ODI but today as nothing clicked against the openers, who put up 227 runs as the first-wicket partnership, captain Pollard put himself all in to break that. They were all about the poor fielding, lack of seizing opportunities and mainly the bizarre bowling plan. I mean, how do you answer for each of your pacers from Sheldon Cottrell to Alzarri Joseph having one over or more left at the end of India’s 50 overs while you’ve used Roston Chase in the 47th over?
Now we dial back to the point when Chase had bowled his last over before this disastrous one. It was the 32nd over, with Chase only conceding 3 runs. But he didn’t come back as he was replaced by pace then. All to contain Rohit Sharma, but what about the wrath of the youngsters?
Bet Pollard had not foreseen the Iyer-Pant crazy show that would take the target to 388, 100 more than the last game. India smashed 100 runs off the last seven overs, out of which the 48th and 49th yielded just five runs each. Hence, in the rest five overs, the bowlers conceded 90 runs, of which the biggest was the one by Roston Chase wherein 31 runs were leaked. While the two overs in which only five runs were yielded were bowled by Sheldon Cottrell and Keemo Paul, who didn’t even complete 10 overs.
Shai Hope - the anchor that became the accelerator
Who is Shai Hope? He is not a T20 specialist, his strike rate will tell you that. Neither is he shaped for Test cricket, as his batting average in the longest format indicates. But he’s irreplaceable in the West Indies ODI setup. As a No.3, Hope is that anchor around which the rest of the lineup carries out their batting. Just like a Kane Williamson is for New Zealand. In the 1st ODI, at Chepauk, Hope remained unbeaten on 102 but maintained a strike rate of 67.54 only. While the scoring rate might not seem as impressive in the breakneck system, his innings served as the backbone of Windies batting in the chase of 288.
Ahead of the 2nd ODI, Hope promised that he’s pacing up his innings according to the team requirement. "Say when you have to chase only 280, we have to make sure everyone's on the same page. My role is to stay at one end, knock around the bowlers, and not give them any wickets. If the chase requires me to step it up, I can do that. So I just hope to play what the team requires," were Hope’s words, that revealed how clear the batsman is in his head. And that showed in his performance in Vizag, wherein the target was 388 and the top three batsmen around him had fallen early. A batsman with a career strike rate of 74, who has only gone above 70 once in his last 10 ODI innings, went striking from the word go and kept the scoring rate above 90 at every step of his 85-ball 78.
Kuldeep Yadav’s long-awaited redemption
Looking back at the sight of India celebrating chinaman Kuldeep Yadav’s distraught face after KKR’s game against the RCB in the 2019 IPL, and comparing it to today’s gives us the idea of how the player must have been waiting to redeem himself. But it was more about the way he did. A hattrick. His second hattrick in ODIs, the only Indian to do so.
India, learning from their mistakes in the first game, went for five bowlers in Vizag. Virat Kohli and co. might have wanted to field two wrist-spinners giving the fans their much-awaited ‘KulCha’ combination back. But considering the Toss result, which India did lose, and that two wrist-spinners wouldn’t be handy in wet conditions, India went for Shardul Thakur. And amongst Kuldeep and Chahal, India backed Kuldeep.
As the pacers kept the runs in check, Kuldeep produced one of his two-dimensional performances, taking key wickets with an economy rate of below six - the best amongst all Indian bowlers in the game. In his first seven overs, Kuldeep only conceded 30 runs and got his reward in the next by dismissing Hope, Holder and Joseph out in three successive deliveries. Hence, orchestrating a Windies collapse after a well-maintained few overs of promise. More than anything, the faith in Kuldeep is back and while Kohli had revealed a spot being vacant in the spinners department for the WT20, he could just be the man for India.