West Indies 182 for 4 (Hope 63*, Carty 48*, Thakur 3-42) beat India 181 (Kishan 55, Motie 3-36, Shepherd 3-37, Joseph 2-35) by six wickets
The pitch in Bridgetown offered grip and turn throughout the game, with the spinners’ economy rate across two innings being 3.89 as against the pace bowlers’ 5.20. However, before Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja tested West Indies’ middle order – Jadeja was fast and flat; Kuldeep was slow while getting more turn – it was Thakur who removed the top three batters in the space of 25 balls to open the game up.
Once they got together, Hope and Carty were content to do it in singles after Kuldeep had cleaned Shimron Hetmyer up with one that was quicker, skidding through to hit off stump.
India, asked to bat at the toss, suffered two collapses of their own. First, from a solid 90 for 0 to a dicey 113 for 5, and then, from 146 for 5 to 181 all out. These came either side of a lengthy rain break. West Indies sensed an opportunity in the absence of Rohit and Kohli, and they pounced. It all started in the 17th over of India’s innings, when a full, tossed-up delivery from Motie had Shubman Gill lofting to long-off for 34, his highest score in seven international innings across formats since June.
Jayden Seales then got his only wicket of the day when a shoulder-height bouncer to Hardik had him pulling straight to midwicket, before Yannic Cariah foxed the comeback man Sanju Samson with turn and bounce. Landing one on a good length around off stump, Cariah got the legbreak to jump as well as move considerably away from the right-hander. Samson jabbed at it with a flat bat, only belatedly thinking of letting it go. But, by then, it was a little too late, as the outside edge went to slip.
India were sliding, and then came heavy rain. When Suryakumar Yadav and Jadeja added 33 to signal a brief recovery after the stoppage, it seemed like the break had come as a blessing for them. But West Indies seized control again, picking up the last five wickets for just 35 runs.
Shepherd pitched short at Jadeja, having him top edge a pull to fine leg in the 32nd over. Motie, getting turn and bounce, had Suryakumar slashing to point after an entertaining 24. Soon after came another moment of spectacular fielding from West Indies, when Carty rushed in and dived forward from deep square-leg to send back Umran Malik in the 38th over.
