The sun was yet set over the Greenfield Stadium at Thiruvananthapuram when Rohit Sharma pulled Devendra Bishoo off the front foot and lifted his arms before shaking hands with captain Virat Kohli while crossing over for a single. What was supposed to be a day-night fixture ended before even the lights could come into effect. It took India just a little over 3 hours and 46.4 overs to roll over West Indies in the fifth and final ODI at Thiruvananthapuram to complete a 3-1 series victory – their sixth in a row at home and eighth consecutive over West Indies.
The series which began on a promising note for the Windies ended in an awful manner with their batters failing to cross 160 in the final two ODIs.
India came into the decider being wary of the West Indian batting line-up and the dew in the evening, which Indian captain Virat Kohli described as the worst in the whole season so far but was given an early Diwali gift by the Windies captain Jason Holder, who surprisingly chose to bat first after winning his first toss of the series.
India made full use of the early moisture available in the pitch to bowl Windies out for 104 – their lowest total against India and then Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli went into an overdrive to finish the match inside 15 overs.
The Windies too had their moments with the ball when Oshane Thomas, playing his second game of the series troubled the Indian batsmen with his raw pace and steep bounce even finding the outside edge of Kohli’s bat only to be let down by the slip fielder. A few overs later it was Rohit Sharma who was done by the extra pace of Thomas but this time the 19-year-old had overstepped. There was no looking back for two of the most prolific ODI batters from then on as Rohit went into an overdrive, hitting four sixes and five fours on his way to an unbeaten 63 off 56 balls. Kohli, at the other end, played his part with an unbeaten 33 in the shortest ODI featuring India. The previous best was an India New Zealand ODI which lasted 48.1 overs at Chennai in 2010.
The lion’s share of the credit for the victory though has to go the bowlers, who shrugged off the disappointments of the first part of the series to come roaring back when the series was on the line.
Bhuvenshwar Kumar was outstanding with the new ball. He hit the right areas from the word go and it yielded a result as early as the fourth ball of the match when Kieron Powell edged one to Dhoni for nought. Complementing Bhuvi from the ender was Jasprit Bumrah, who too struck in his first over, disturbing the woodwork behind Shai Hope to reduce West Indies to 2 for 2 after their captain had chosen to bat first.
Khaleel Ahmed's subdued celebration after he was warned by ICC
Samuels and Rovman Powell then provided some stability to the wobbling Windies with the former playing some attractive shots after the initial struggle. But just like the 2nd ODI, Samuels’ innings ended up being a short story instead of being a novel. He scooped a Jadeja delivery to Kohli at cover after the Indian left-arm spinner had bowled a maiden to him in previous over.
It was a one-way traffic from there on as Bumrah and Khaleel struck thrice in quick succession to snap the wind of the Windies batting. Kuldeep too joined the party and Jadeja returned to polish off the tail, picking up four wickets for 34 runs.
Bumrah, Khaleel and Kuldeep chipped in with two wickets apiece.