IND vs WI | Cuttack ODI Takeaways - Evin Lewis running out of time and Rohit-Rahul bromance

IND vs WI | Cuttack ODI Takeaways - Evin Lewis running out of time and Rohit-Rahul bromance

no photo

|

BCCI

It was ‘Cuttack Delight’ for Virat Kohli and his men as the Men in Blue sealed the series with a dramatic four-wicket win over the Windies in front of a packed Barabati crowd. After Kohli and KL Rahul set the platform, a late yet unexpected blitz from Shardul Thakur sealed the win for the hosts.

‘Dormant’ Evin Lewis doing more harm than good for Windies

Evin Lewis’ knock today at the Barabati Stadium depicted everything wrong with him in ODI cricket and perhaps even showed us why it’s time for the Windies to start looking beyond him in this format. For starters, the myth surrounding him being an ‘aggressive batsman’ needs to busted sooner rather than later, for since the start of 2018, in 23 ODI innings, he’s boasted a strike rate of 77.62. In fact, in his last 18 ODI innings, Lewis has had a sub-85 strike rate on a staggering 13 occasions. He is stagnant between the wickets, plays too many dot balls and more often than not, fails to exploit the first powerplay.

Today, 76% (38/50) of the balls he faced were dots and when he eventually got out, he left the team in an extremely precarious position at 57/1 off 15 overs. Now, this can be excused if he’s a sheet anchor, but with someone like a Shai Hope - the Windies’ anchor and best batsman - at the other end, Lewis’ approach is fruitless, ineffective and is, in fact, hurting the team big time. And the worst-case scenario for the Windies, something that unfolded today, is Hope himself trying to take on the attack and perishing; something he isn’t built to do and shouldn’t be doing. 

In an ideal world, the Windies would be wanting Hope’s partner to be aggressive and proactive, and not just farming the strike waiting for the right time to unleash - that’s the need of the hour.

Nicholas Pooran - The gift that keeps giving

For the second time in as many matches, Nicholas Pooran walked to the middle with his side in deep trouble and for the second time in as many matches, Pooran, by the time his innings had ended, stole the breath of the spectators away. Not Rohit’s 159, not Hetmyer’s 139, but this knock of Pooran today, a 64-ball 89, was the knock of the series. With the score 144/4 in the 32nd over, with both Hetmyer and Hope back to the hut, the Windies had no business scoring 315 at the end of their quota of 50, but they did, and it was Pooran who made it happen. 

And he did so through sheer elegance and untainted grace, keeping the Windies bloat afloat against the strong current that was the Indian bowling attack. First, through his reverse-sweeps and cuts, he unsettled and ground down the spinners, before eventually unearthing the strokes down the ground. For the pacers, it was the straight-drives, cuts and the ferocious pulls, before going all “Pooran” towards the end with his nonchalant flicks and swats. If it was the pick-up shot off Shami in Vizag, today, here in Cuttack, it was the flick off Shardul Thakur. “Pooran” I said, for he is one of a kind and is making a name for himself. 

In Chennai, Pooran showcased his ruthless aggression by killing off the game coming on the back of a 200-run partnership. In Vizag, he counterpunched the bowlers when the team looked down and out and today, in Cuttack, he dragged his team out of a hole when it looked certain that they were going to get buried alive. The beauty of it? He remained the same through and through, in all three games, never once deviating from his natural game.

It’s time to talk about the Rohit-Rahul chemistry

Great partnerships, especially opening partnerships, are built on the chemistry between the two batting partners, how they complement each other and for years, the kinship between Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan made them a formidable duo. But of late, due to several reasons which we won’t be digging deep into, the two have fallen out of love with each other. Dhawan has been left estranged but Rohit, luckily, seems to have found the perfect partner in KL Rahul. As opening partners in ODIs in 2019, they’ve been invincible: 923 runs in 10 innings with 5 hundred-run partnerships. Today, again there was a 100-run stand - the second of the series. However, it’s not the numbers, but their chemistry and understanding that stands out.

Cast your minds back to the 2019 World Cup where, after Dhawan got injured, Rahul filled in as the opener. There, with Rahul completely out of sync with his own game, itching and twitching for runs, almost suffering from an identity crisis of sorts, Rohit took the aggressor role - much in contrast to his ‘designated’ role - giving leeway for his partner to take his time to get back to his groove. In stark contrast, throughout the entirety of this tour in both T20Is and ODIs, it has been the rejuvenated and reborn Rahul who has taken the attack to the bowlers and allowed Rohit to play himself in.

Their 122-run stand today was a rare occasion where both looked in great touch, ‘splitting the bill equally’ and gliding along at the same pace, almost giving away the impression that they were communicating with each other telepathically. It might now just be the time for the team management to let this Rohit-Rahul bromance thrive permanently for the years to come, irrespective of Dhawan’s fitness.

Get updates! Follow us on

Open all