Twitter Reactions: Team India cruise to another easy win in the Caribbean

The third ODI was the most sought after the match in the series, with India leading the series 1-0. Windies, made two changes in the squad, following the drubbing at the hands of Virat Kohli & Co. in the second ODI. Kohli, however, on the contrary, did not make any changes to his Playing XI with Yuvraj Singh retaining his position in the squad, despite failures in the last five games after he began the Champions Trophy encounter against Pakistan on a good note.

Many wanted the left-handed batsman from Delhi, Rishabh Pant to replace the fellow southpaw in the XI. Rain threats were constant ahead of the third ODI in Antigua. Windies skipper Jason Holder won the toss and elected to bowl on a surface which aided the pace bowlers. India, unlike the previous two ODI, begun this match on a low note with the left-handed Shikhar Dhawan, getting out to the pace bowler Miguel Cummins in the third over of the encounter. Skipper Kohli too faltered early edging one to the slips off the bowling of Windies skipper Jason Holder.

Yuvraj then joined hands with Ajinkya Rahane in the middle and added 66 runs together giving India a momentum going into the latter stages of the innings. Leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo struck the southpaw right in front of the wicket, for 39 runs off 55 balls. Former Indian skipper MS Dhoni and Rahane put up a brilliant partnership of 70 runs before the latter was caught in the deep with a splendid effort by Bishoo.

Kedar Jadhav and Dhoni had a tall task in hand, with India reeling at 170/4 at the end of the 43rd over. The duo, struck from ball one to give the team a glimmer of hope towards the end of the innings, with the partnership of 81 in the span of the last seven overs. MS Dhoni ended the innings with a score of 78 from 79 balls, with a late onslaught of fours and sixes, while Kedar Jadhav piled up 40 runs in 26 deliveries, with a solitary six under his name.

The Windies reply

In reply, the Windies began the innings in similar fashion with a wicket in the second over of the chase, with Evin Lewis cleaned up by the pace of Umesh Yadav. The brother’s pair of Kyle and Shai Hope made a steady partnership, with 45 runs in the span of 11 overs before Kyle was dismissed by the Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya.

Roston Chase followed suit, failing to read the googly of chinaman Kuldeep Yadav before Pandya dismissed the other Hope for 24 runs. The Windies scoreboard read 69/4 at the end of the 17th over, and they were still a long way from the target.

Jason Mohammed and Jason Holder came to the crease, with the steep target in sight, before a smart piece of bowling from the Indian offie Ravichandran Ashwin dismissed the Windies skipper for six runs. Mohammed was the only bright spot of the otherwise dull Windies batting lineup who failed to chase the target for the second game in a row, coming short by 93 runs getting bowled out for 158 runs.

Twitter could not hide their happiness after India went past the Windies team for the second match in a row: