Darren Bravo
India were once again inconsistent with both their batting and bowling in the Sabina Park as a late assault from Darren Bravo helped West Indies chase down 251. Suresh Raina will be at the center of criticism even though he managed to win the series 3-2.
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The bounce was usually expected from the Jamaican Pitch and Sammy after winning the toss opted to bowl first. Both the openers Patel and Dhawan were done by terrific fast bowling from Roach and Russell. Patel was the first to go after he mistimed his pull shot. Immediately Roach dipped in a short ball and Dhawan got a nick from his glove. Tiwary looked to settle in as both Kohli and Tiwari brought up the 50 run partnership. But soon after that, Pollard gave the breakthrough with Tiwari trying to guide to third man ended up edging to keeper. But the most experienced batsman and the top form batsman pulled India out of trouble by playing sensibly and rotating the strike. They displayed great stroke play with some huge sixes too. Kohli was all set for a scintillating hundred but a sharp throw from the deep from Sarwan ensured the end of a magnificent innings. That sparked off the debacle of Indian collapse. Raina did his talking of playing a captain’s innings only with the mouth and not with the bat. All the innings he has got out, his intent of going over the top has cost him dearly. Rohit got off to his 50 but went for the slog and was beaten. Yusuf was desperate to make a mark and managed a 30 but given the circumstances he should have capitalized a little more to get to a formidable total. Ashwin kept telling his counterparts to stay but Mishra, Vinay and Ishant just went the way which they came in leaving Kohli and Rohit bamboozled standing at the balcony.
Vinay Kumar got the rid of dangerous Simmons and soon later Barath tumbled under pressure to Mishra. But Sarwan and Bravo looked solid. They managed to keep their wickets intact even though the required run rate climbed to 8. Sarwan was eventually retired hurt after his valiant 75 and it was high time Bravo picked up. He smashed both Ashwin and Mishra in the batting powerplay with huge sixes. He had done his part before falling to Mishra but then 23 was need from last 3 with Pollard and Samuels on the crease. Vinay gave 20 runs in the 18th over and it was a great celebration for the local people in the stadium as Chris Gayle too enjoyed the party. Raina’s captaincy is under scrutiny as his decision making was below par throughout the series. India will look to put back the loss and move ahead towards the test series.
Tags: 5th ODI, Cricket, Darren Bravo, IND, India, ODI Match, ODI Series, Review, Virat Kohli, West Indies, WI
