Against all the excitement and the possibilities of leveling the series, West Indies batting collapsed in the final ODI as India completed a comprehensive win at Greenfield Stadium, Trivandrum. India won the series by 3-1, sixth consecutive win under Kohli at home.
Having won the toss and opted to bat first in the overcast conditions in Trivandrum, nothing has gone in West Indies way. Indian bowlers were clinical with their accuracy and discipline with all the bowlers pitching in with wickets. They wrapped up West Indies innings for 104 in 32 overs with only Samuels and Holder scoring more than 20 runs. India chased down the target within 15 overs with losing only one wicket.
India had a dream start in the match with Bhuvaneswar Kumar, and Bumrah dismissed West Indies opener Kieran Powell and number three batsman Shai Hope for zero in the first couple of overs. Rovman Powell and Samuels tried to rebuild the innings, but, Jadeja struck again with Samuel’s wicket who had a good start scoring 24 runs, but failed to convert to a big one.
The responsibility remained with Hetmyer and Jason Holder to rebuild the innings to take them to a decent total. However, Jadeja struck again to dismiss Hetmyer and Bumrah dismissed Fabien Allen leaving West Indies 66-6 in 21 overs. Jason Holder’s fight came to an end at 25 runs when Kedar Jadhav caught him in Khaleel Ahmed’s over. Jadeja took four wickets while Bumrah and Ahmed took two wickets each to wrap up West Indies innings for 104.
India started their chase after a short break but saw Dhawan departing the scene in the second over for six runs. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli entertained the crowd during the chase which lasted only 15 overs. Rohit scored a brilliant 63 off 56 balls with four sixes in his innings. Kohli remained unbeaten on 33 off 29 balls. India sealed the series with nine wickets win within 15 overs.
Two consecutive one-sided games which India dominated with both bat and ball. The game in Trivandrum lasted on 3.5 hours and 47 overs including both the innings and the crowd in Trivandrum witnessed another short game. Ravindra Jadeja is the player of the series for his excellent four-wicket spell, and the top run scorer of the series Virat Kohli is the player of the series.
The teams will travel to Kolkata on 5th November 2018 for the first match of the three-match T20 series. Lucknow will host the second game and Chennai will the final game of the series.
