India vs Windies 2018: Batting First Was The Wrong Decision

Former Windies skipper Brian Lara criticised Jason Holder’s decision to bat first in the final ODI against India in Thiruvananthapuram.

With dew expected to come into play in the second innings, not many would have expected Jason Holder to bat first after he won the toss. But the Windies skipper was perhaps buoyed by the results in the third and fourth ODI. In the third game, Windies had defeated India by 43 runs after being asked to bat first while in the following game, they lost by 224 runs as they were all out for just 153 in pursuit of 377.

Jason Holder’s decision to bat against their fancied opponents turned out to be a poor decision as the Virat Kohli-led side bowled out their opponents for a paltry 104. This was Windies’ lowest ODI total against India.

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With the ball swinging early on, Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar gave their side a dream start. Kieran Powell edged one from Kumar behind the stumps to depart for a duck.  Bumrah then sent back Shai Hope packing in the next over to leave Windies reeling at 2-2.

Out-of-form Marlon Samuels struggled to get going. But a six and a four of Khaleel Ahmed’s first over helped him settle down. Samuels’ stroke-making was perhaps a reply to Khaleel’s send-off in the last game. But before the veteran batsman could inflict further damage on India, Virat Kohli introduced Ravindra Jadeja and it completely changed the game. In his very first spell, Jadeja struck twice to dismiss Samuels and the dangerous Shimron Hetmyer.

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Khaleel then accounted for makeshift opener Rovman Powell and Jason Holder to reduce the visitors to 87 for 7.  Ravindra Jadeja then ran through the lower-order as the home side bowled out the tourists for 104 in 31.5 overs.

In reply, the Men in Blue began poorly with Shikhar Dhawan once again failing to deliver. However, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli stitched together an unbeaten partnership of 99 runs to take India home. Rohit, who already had two centuries to his name in the series, went on to compile a fine fifty while Kohli played the role of the second fiddle.

“The wicket was a bit sticky, it was dry. I felt that using the wicket with the ball first was the best option for Windies. Also, you would like to nullify the Indian spinners bowling by making them bowling last. Definitely batting first was the wrong decision” Lara was quoted as saying by Cricketnext.

The legendary batsman concluded by heaping praise on Shimron Hetmyer, calling him the biggest positive for the visitors from the series.