5 Takeaways from The Windies Tour of India
Be it debuts, last ball finishes, dead rubbers or a tie in ODIs, we’ve seen it all in this tour. India won the series’ comprehensively by beating the Windies in all 3 formats of the game. The scoreline doesn’t depict the entire scenario, but the credit has to be given to the young Windies squad who showed some fight and made sure it wasn’t a cup of tea for the Indians.
Here our are 5 takeaways from Windies Tour of India 2018:
India’s new Test Opener:
Big news coming from the selectors was picking the 18 year old Prithvi Shaw over Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan. The youngster from Mumbai made his debut special by smashing a belligerent ton and winning the Man of the Match award.
HOPE for the Windies:
One of the positives for the Windies was the young batsmen stepping up. Roston Chase seemed the best out of the crop in the Tests, scoring a half century in the first innings of the first Test Match and a valiant ton in the first innings of the second Test. An unbeaten 123 in the 2nd ODI and a 95 in 3rd helped the Windies get a tie and the single win of the entire series. Shimron Hetmeyer’s explosive batting left us mesmerized and made him the highest run-getter for the Windies in this ODI series.
Ripping them apart:
Our Knight Kuldeep Yadav has been the go to bowler for Team India, scalping 10 wickets in 2 Tests, 9 wickets in 4 ODIs and 5 wickets in 2 T20Is. The left-arm Chinaman has proven to be a match winner by taking wickets regardless of the match situation. Kuldeep currently has 72 wickets from 28 International matches in 2018 and it's been a clear sign of his development for the Men in Blue.
Keep Calm and believe in DK:
“Dinesh Karthik saves the day at Eden Gardens”. This line gives us a kick of nostalgia. Our Skipper made sure he stuck at the crease when wickets were tumbling around him and his resilient knock of 31* from 34 balls helped Team India chase the low total.
Fireworks by Virat & Rohit:
The Captain & Vice-Captain of Team India put on a fierce show in the ODIs and gave some catching practice to fans in the stands. With both striking it above run a ball, chasing mammoth targets was never difficult. Seeing them whack it all around the park did remind us of the Cricket 07 days.
Virat Kohli - 5 innings, 453 runs, 151 avg, 112.97 SR, 52 4s, 7 6s.
Rohit Sharma - 5 innings, 389 runs, 129.67 avg, 118.96 SR, 43 4s, 16 6s.
