Axar Patel stars as India beat West Indies by 2 wickets to seal India vs West Indies series in 2 ODI.
India defeated West Indies by two wickets in the second India vs West Indies ODI to take an impregnable 2-0 lead in the three-match series. Opted to bat, Shai Hope smashed a delightful century and he made this amazing century in his 100th ODI, while Nicholas Pooran hit a half-century to power West Indies to 311 for six on Sunday.
Chasing 312, Shreyas Iyer‘s 63 runs and Sanju Samson 54 runs struck fine half-centuries, but it was Axar Patel‘s unbeaten 35-ball 64 that ultimately made the difference as India hurried home with two balls to spare.
India has found ways to get out of imprisonment. Windies still find themselves prisoned and made a few silly errors. Their free fall in ODIs still hasn’t stopped. They were getting better but haven’t been able to deliver at crunch moments.
India has gobbled up the ODI series but there is a game to go and the Windies would look to come back hard. The last game was a bitter pill to swallow for them and again it’s one more unbelievable, thrilling shock for them. And yesterday’s match would have multiplied the bitterness umpteen times.
Team India Captain Shikhar Dhawan: “It was great teamwork and performance. The teammates didn’t lose their self-belief, that is amazing and it’s proved again and again. Iyer, Sanju, Axar everyone was amazing, also Avesh came out in his debut match and scored those 11 important runs. Really Thanks to IPL, and learned a lot from them and they perform on a huge stage.
I felt that we bowled nicely. They got off to a good start. Hope and Pooran batted well. We thought if they could do it, we knew that we could do it.
We started a little slow. Shubman batted well. The Iyer-Samson partnership made a huge difference and collected a good amount of runs.
There was a run-out. But these things happen. Boys are learning. Thanks to the whole support staff as well. They have been doing a tremendous job.
It was a great feeling when I scored 100 in my 100th ODI game and I remembered it and that pleasure was immortal. I would want to congratulate Shai Hope for doing the same in his 100th ODI.”
Nicholas Pooran, West Indies Captain said “definitely the last couple of overs we didn’t hold our nerves. Last 6 overs, we lost the game. We ourselves felt that we can crack the spinners’ balls and it was easier to hit. When we just needed one wicket to seal the game but Axar played really well and astonishingly.
In his Hope’s 100th ODI, he was exceptional to get a hundred. We did an exceptional job with the batting group. We tried to compete really hard and it was a great movement. We want to win really badly.”
Man of the Match Axar Patel said, “I think this is a special one for me. It came at a crucial time and also helped the team to win the series. We have done the same in the Indian Premier League.
We just needed to remain calm and keep the intensity up. I was playing an ODI after close to 5 years. I would want to continue performing like this for my team as well as my cricket career growth.”
Highest targets successfully chased in ODIs in West Indies
- 361 Eng vs WI Bridgetown 2019
- 313 SL vs WI Bridgetown 2003
- 311 Ind vs WI Port of Spain 2022*
- 309 WI vs Pak Providence 2017
Most runs scored in overs 41-50 in successful run chases since 2002
- 111 Pak vs Ban Mirpur 2014
- 105 NZ vs Ire Malahide 2022
- 102 NZ vs Aus Christchurch 2005
- 100 Ind vs WI Port of Spain 2022*
- Previous most by India: 91 vs Zim Auckland 2015
India took the series 2-0 with a game to go. Axar Patel has stolen and got this for India. His imperious hitting towards the end did the job and reason for the victory. Some clean hits kept India in the chase when the pressure was on and it continued till it got India over the line.
Iyer and Samson revived the hopes for India after they were three down for 79. But both could only get the fifties.
Then Hooda joined hands with Axar only for the latter to carry the baton till the end. Avesh Khan swinging hard and getting a couple of fours also took the pressure off Axar as well. Windies need to just lift themselves up as they were so close to a win but somehow the flow was missed.
In the last over Mayers was bowling to Axar Patel, SIX, and this is another shattering loss for the Windies. Axar has stolen this in daylight from the hosts. That was a low full toss outside off and Axar thumps it over long-off.
He shows barely any emotions. He has been there and done that before in the Indian Premier League and even in ODI, he always seemed to be in control.
Highlights and Score Card
- Axar Finishes Off In Style As India Won By 2 Wickets and Axar Leads The Way As India On an extreme limit Of Victory
- Axar-Shardul Key For Chase as Hooda Perishes
- Hooda-Axar Keep India Afloat In 312 Chase
- Samson Departs, India In Spot Of Bother
- Iyer Departs After 50, Hooda Joins Samson For Chase, Samson-Iyer Steady India After Sky Perishes
- India Lose Both Openers, In that time Windies team was in Command, Dhawan Departs, and Gill-Iyer Eye Steady Stand
- Play Resumes As Indian Openers Eye Boundaries
- Play Interrupted Due To Rain, so India scored 41runs for 0 Wickets (in 9.4overs)
- Gill-Dhawan Off To Steady Start In 312runs Chase. Hope Stars As Windies Reach 311/6 After 50 Overs
- Pooran Falls Before Final Flourish as Hosts Eye 300
Hope-Pooran Steady Hosts After Twin Strikes - Twin Strikes Put Visitors In Command
- India Eye Wickets As Hope-Brooks Take Hosts Past 100
- Prasidh Krishna is out and Avesh Khan came in and he was making his ODI debut yesterday.
See how Shikhar Dhawan celebraing the victory with the Indian Team:
Talent wins game but teamwork and intelligence wins championship! 🙌 Kudos to team for the amazing face-off! 😍👏 #IndvsWI pic.twitter.com/jMZOjWiTN6
— Shikhar Dhawan (@SDhawan25) July 25, 2022