A Stomp

Rarely have we seen West Indies lose in T20s . But to see them lose so comprehensively in three games consequitively s is truly a once in a lifetime sight . Leading into the final game of the five match series , India had already won the series , but both teams went into the fifth game playing for pride .

Or at the very least , India did . West Indies was utterly destroyed in both innings by a complete team performance by India . India won the toss and chose to bat . Buoyed by Shreyas Iyer’s 64 and Deepak Hooda’s 38 , adding on top of a quickfire 28 by captain Pandya , India made a convincing total of 188 on a pitch that did not seem so batsman friendly .

The second innings was on the contrary a wash out . As the second innings started , the pitch started to turn more , enabling spin bowlers to be more lethal , and Pandya used this to his full advantage . The trio of spin bowlers Axar Patel , Ravi Bishnoi , and Kuldeep Yadav took all 10 wickets , with Ravi Bishnoi ripping apart 4 in a mere 16 balls before the game was suddenly over . West Indies was dismantled in 15.4 overs with only 100 runs to show for it .

While India played phenomenally , this game just drove in the point long and hard about this West Indies’ team’s inability to play spin at an international level . Notwithstanding this series , this game must have been very harsh on the psyche of the Caribbean players , to lose at home in such an embarassing manner. This game did not expose a chink in the armour that no one had realised before. This game simply proved to the world that West Indies weakness is not only well known , but also easily exploitable . If West Indies has to return to being a cricket powerhouse , I feel that grave and serious changes should be made towards their common weakness . If a player is uncomfortable against a particular ball type , it is a workable problem . One can navigate through it . But if your whole team simply collapses if the opponents bring out spin is another matter .

While I do not want to diminish India’s efforts in this game or series , but I am of the opinion that this game was lost by the West Indies and not won by India. Till nest time , have a great week !