India vs Windies: 4th ODI, Review- India romp past Windies in a canter to unassailable lead

The hosts bowled their opponents out with 82 balls remaining in the innings.

Published - 29 Oct 2018, 21:04 IST | Updated - 29 Oct 2018, 21:04 IST

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Following a thumping victory in Pune, the Windies were expected to pose a threat to India even in the fourth match at Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. However, that wasn’t the case as the Men in Blue thumped Jason Holder’s men by a humungous 224 runs. Most importantly, they took an unassailable lead in the series with one match remaining in Thiruvananthapuram.

Rohit and Rayudu march on

After winning the toss and electing to bat first, almost everything went right for the Indians as they compiled a mammoth 377/5 in the 50 overs. Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan got their team off to a flying start courtesy of a 71-run partnership off as many deliveries. Right-arm fast bowler Keemo Paul separated them with Dhawan’s wicket in the 12th over.

Indian captain Virat Kohli encountered a rare failure and could only manage 16 runs from 17 balls. Kemar Roach got rid of him, caught by keeper Shai Hope. However, Rohit went on to score his 21st ODI century and racked up 162 runs from 137 balls to propel India’s score. Ashley Nurse accounted for his wicket in the 44th over. Ambati Rayudu also showed his class.

He came to bat after Kohli’s dismissal and went about his business in a convincing manner. The Guntur-born cricketer notched his third ODI century off merely 80 balls and fell prey to a direct hit from Fabian Allen. MS Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav found the boundaries a few times to inject the final impetus into the innings. Roach was Windies’ most successful bowler with two wickets.

Windies capitulate alarmingly

The run-chase turned out to be equivalent to a nightmare for the visiting team as they lost wickets at regular intervals. Bhuvneshwar Kumar drew first blood with the wicket of Chandrapaul Hemraj. In the next six balls, Hope and Kieran Powell succumbed to a couple of horrendous run-outs. Shimron Hetmyer played a couple of stupendous strokes, but Khaleel Ahmed removed him.

In his very next over, the left-arm seamer rattled Rovman Powell’s woodwork as the batsman went for an ugly heave on the leg side. Marlon Samuels played three striking shots and his knock was cut short by Khaleel, who nipped out his third wicket. Fabian Allen failed to impress even in his second encounter and became chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav’s first victim.

Skipper Jason Holder gave his team something to cheer about with a knock of 54 runs from 70 deliveries with the help of a solitary four and a couple of sixes. Yadav went on to pick up a couple of more wickets in the form of Ashley Nurse and number 11 Kemar Roach. In the end, the hosts bowled their opponents out with 82 balls remaining in the innings.