IND vs WI

India won the ODI series in West Indies 3-2. For someone who hasn’t followed the series very keenly, the score line seems to suggest that it was a very competitive clash, but the series was far from being competitive in any sense, with the young Indian team dominating the first three matches, winning them comprehensively and then later, the Windies seemed to find motivation from somewhere to win the last two ODIs, even though they had lost the series. . The winning score line of 3-2 for India doesn’t portray it to be as dominating as they were. The Windies have managed to pull themselves back up and show some fighting spirit.

Also Read: India Tour Of England 2011 – Complete Schedule

This series has been a test for the new players and it seemed to have a few bits of good talent with a few disappointments. Yusuf Pathan, Suresh Raina, S. Badrinath, Shikhar Dhawan were some of the names that were expected to fire but could not really capitalize on the opportunity. Winning the first three and then suddenly losing the last two matches, shows how these young players succumb under the pace and bounce of the West Indian bowlers. These players have to learn and get used to playing under pressure and not collapse under it.

Dhawan was considered a good future prospect but could not make much of an impact in this series. He has a lot of runs at the domestic level to prove his experience in the game but still, one could see that his shot selection was poor and more often than not, he found it difficult to place the ball where he wanted to. Although he managed a half century in one match, he didn’t do that well in other matches. He is still young, only 25, has a lot to improve and certainly can make a strong comeback.  Same was with Badrinath, who too didn’t seem impressive enough. Even the new skipper, Suresh Raina was nowhere his amazing world cup form, barely scoring runs in the whole series.

On the other hand, players like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have made the most of this opportunity to establish themselves, perhaps a permanent spot in the ODI playing eleven. The spinner, Amit Mishra was by far the most impressive, even earning praise from the great Sunil Gavaskar, who mentioned that his name should be pondered over for the England tour.

There in undoubtedly abundant talent in the Indian bench but they need to be groomed well enough to perform at the International level. The selectors will have a tough job while selecting the teams considering the young players have all shown promise.

Tags: 5th ODI, Cricket, Darren Bravo, IND, India, ODI Match, ODI Series, Review, Virat Kohli, West Indies, WI