AHMEDABAD: India clinched a series win over the West Indies after pacer Prasidh Krishna tore through the tourists’ top order on Wednesday, taking four wickets to lead India to a 44-run victory in the second One-day International in Ahmedabad.

Building on their six-wicket win over the West Indies in the opening ODI on Sunday, India defended a modest total of 237-9 to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.

Put into bat, India set the West Indies a target of 238, with Suryakumar Yadav top scoring for the hosts with 64 runs from 83 balls.

Yadav put together a 90-run stand with K.L. Rahul (49), which came to an end when a mix-up between the batters led to Rahul being run out.

For the West Indies, Alzarri Joseph and Odean Smith took two wickets apiece, with captain Kieron Pollard missing out on the match due to a “niggle”.

“There were some challenges. The partnership between Rahul and Surya had a lot of maturity,” said Rohit Sharma, who oversaw his first series win as ODI captain since taking over from Virat Kohli in December. “We got to a respectable total in the end. We knew we could fight it out.”

The West Indies were jolted early in their reply after Krishna (4-12) dismissed opener Brandon King and Darren Bravo in successive overs, before getting the wicket of Nicholas Pooran (9) in the 20th over.

Shamarh Brooks (44) provided some resistance before he became Deepak Hooda’s first wicket in international cricket, missing out on his fifty when he holed out to long on.

Smith then provided the West Indies a glimmer of hope towards the end of the innings with a knock of 24 but the West Indies were eventually bowled out for 193 inside 46 overs.

Scoreboard

INDIA:

R. Sharma c Hope b Roach 5

R. Pant c Holder b Smith 18

V. Kohli c Hope b Smith 18

K.L. Rahul run out 49

S. Yadav c Joseph b Allen 64

W. Sundar c Joseph b Hosein 24

D. Hooda c Hosein b Holder 29

S. Thakur c Brooks b Joseph 8

M. Siraj c Hope b Joseph 3

Y. Chahal not out 11

P. Krishna not out 0

EXTRAS (B-2, LB-2, NB-2, W-2) 8

TOTAL (for nine wkts, 50 overs) 237

FALL OF WKTS: 1-9 (Rohit), 2-39 (Pant), 3-43 (Kohli), 4-134 (Rahul), 5-177 (Yadav), 6-192 (Sundar), 7-212 (Thakur), 8-224 (Siraj), 9-226 (Hooda).

BOWING: Roach 8-0-42-1 (w1, nb1), Joseph 10-0-36-2, Smith 7-0-29-2 (w1), Holder 9-2-37-1, Hosein 6-0-39-1 (nb1), Allen 10-0-50-1.

WEST INDIES:

S. Hope c Yadav b Chahal 27

B. King c Pant b Krishna 18

D. Bravo c Pant b Krishna 1

S. Brooks c Yadav b Hooda 44

N. Pooran c Rohit b Krishna 9

J. Holder c Hooda b Thakur 2

A. Hosein c Pant b Thakur 34

F. Allen c Pant b Siraj 13

O. Smith c Kohli b Sundar 24

A. Joseph not out 7

K. Roach lbw b Krishna 0

EXTRAS (LB-5, NB-3, W-6) 14

TOTAL (all out, 46 overs) 193

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-32 (King), 2-38 (Bravo), 3-52 (Hope), 4-66 (Pooran), 5-76 (Holder), 6-117 (Brooks), 7-159 (Allen), 8-159 (Hosein), 9-193 (Smith).

BOWLING: Siraj 9-1-38-1 (w3), Thakur 9-1-41-2, Krishna 9-3-12-4, Chahal 10-0-45-1 (nb2), Washington 5-0-28-1 (nb1), Sundar 4-0-24-1 (w3).

RESULT: India won by 44 runs.

SERIES: India lead the three-match series 2-0.

UMPIRES: Nitin Menon and Virender Sharma (both India)

TV UMPIRE: Jayaraman Madanagopal (India)

MATCH REFEREE: Manu Nayyar (India)

Published in Dawn, February 10th, 2022