India’s captain Hardik Pandya expressed his disappointment with the batting unit as the West Indies chased down a low target of 181 with six wickets in hand against the West Indies in Barbados.
With this win, the West Indies levelled the series at 1-1. West Indies captain Hope steered the innings with Keacy Carty. India used seven bowling options but none were able to break Hope and Keacy’s partnership. After a comfortable win by 6-wicket over India, West Indies skipper Shai Hope said on Sunday that they are just one win away from claiming the series victory against India. Indian bowlers failed to defend a low target of 182 as West Indies Captain Shai Hope’s 50 provided a 6-wicket victory to the Caribbeans in the second ODI of the three-match series in Barbados. Hope scored unbeaten 63. Chasing a low total of 182 runs, the West Indies openers Brandon King and Kyle Mayers gave a solid start as they added 50 runs to the board in 8.1 overs. Only two months to go before the ODI World Cup 2023 begins but the Indian team management is making changes in the team that have left the fans and experts baffling. The absence of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma from the second ODI team against West Indies was a big head-scratcher. Many former Indian cricketers found little logic in the management’s decision, saying the duo has played little cricket, courtesy of their absence from India’s T20I squad. Hence, the decision to leave them out of the playing XI for the second ODI is perplexing.
Rahul Dravid, India’s head-coach, has defended the decision to experiment excessively with the team combination in the two one-day internationals played so far on the Caribbean tour. Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma sat out of the second ODI that West Indies won comfortably by 6 wickets, at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown. The veteran duo had even gone down the order in the first ODI that India won, although dragging the run-chase longer than they’d have wanted to. However, Dravid isn’t too bothered by the results of the series, and insists that giving game time to some of the players is of greater importance than the result of the match or the series. This is being done with the long-term view of the team in mind – of finding success in the upcoming tournaments like the Asia Cup and the World Cup. Speaking to the media, Dravid said that since many players are injured, they are trying out players for backup. “This was our last chance to be able to try out our players; we have got few of our players who are injured, who are in the NCA. You know, with months to go for the world cup or Asia cup, we are kind of running out of time in a lot of ways, and we are hopeful that some of him will be at least fit for the Asia Cup and the World Cup. But we cannot take our chances as we have to try out other people, so that in a worst case scenario they have game time behind them,” he said. “We will always look into the bigger picture and we cannot think about every single game and series.” “In the series like this, with only two-three matches to go before the world cup and Asia cup, playing Virat and Rohit would not have given us answers,” the former Indian player added. When asked about the criticism the Indian team faced over their Playing XI selection, Dravid said that they do not worry about others opinions and want to give opportunities to young players.
