India pacer Shardul Thakur said that the Ahmedabad pitch offered assistance to the pacers in the second ODI against West Indies and the Indian trio (Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, and himself) were able to extract something out of it.
Rohit Sharma and his side registered a 44-run win in the second ODI to gain an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series. Prasidh Krishna’s four-wicket haul helped India defend 237 and defeat West Indies by 44 runs in the second ODI at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on Wednesday. “It was a bit tense towards the end. You know with day-night games, with dew coming in and if one of the batters gets in and then you’re in the game, he (Smith) hit 2-3 shots but in the end it went well for us. I think fast bowlers were bowling really well today. There was some assistance in the pitch and all three of us were able to extract something,” Shardul told host broadcaster Star Sports after the game.
“The idea was to get wickets and if you get wickets upfront then the game gets away from you. When we batted, West Indies used the short ball well and there was more on this surface, so we also bowled the short balls. I wish the surface remains the same for the last ODI,” he added.
Earlier, Suryakumar Yadav and KL Rahul might have played knocks of 64 and 49 but the hosts kept on losing wickets at regular intervals, and in the end, West Indies restricted India to 237/9 in the allotted fifty overs. For the West Indies, Alzarri Joseph and Odean Smith scalped two wickets each. The final ODI will be played on Friday at the Narendra Modi Stadium.