India and West Indies faced off each other in the fifth and final ODI at the Greenfield International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday (November 1).
The visitors made two changes in their playing XI as they bid to finish all square in the five-match series, in which they trail 1-2. Devendra Bishoo comes in for the injured Ashley Nurse, while paceman Oshane Thomas replaces Chandrapaul Hemraj. On the other hand, India retained the same XI that won them the fourth ODI.
Opting to bat first, West Indies were bamboozled by the Indian bowlers from the outset. While Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Khaleel Ahmed claimed wickets in their respective first overs to start the proceedings for India, Ravindra Jadeja ripped through the middle-order to reduce the visitors to 53/4.
Afterwards, West Indies couldn’t quite recover as Jasprit Bumrah picked up two, Kuldeep took one and Jadeja scalped two more to bundle out the tourists for 104 in 31.5 overs. It was a sorry batting card from the Windies with none of the player crossing the 30-run mark. Skipper Jason Holder was the highest scorer in the innings with 25.
In reply, India got off to a bad start as Oshane Thomas removed Shikhar Dhawan for just 6. However, the pair of Rohit and Kohli once again proved to be a thorn for the visiting bowlers. India’s captain and vice-captain forged an unbeaten 99-run partnership to seal the deal for the hosts with 9 wickets in hand and 181 balls to spare. While Rohit scored 63 not out off 56 balls (5 fours and 4 sixes), Kohli remained unbeaten on 33 off 29 deliveries (6 boundaries). By virtue of this resounding victory, Team India clinched the five-match ODI series 3-1.
Twitter experts were mighty impressed with the way India dominated the game to sign off the ODI series.
Here are some of the tweets:
Congratulations #TeamIndia ???????? on the series win ???????? Next up the T20Is ????
— Krunal Pandya (@krunalpandya24) November 1, 2018
An ODI that didn't even last 4 hours. Superlative Performance from Team India yet again. WI gave all of us some hope at the start but it didn't last long. They played some very poor cricket and are now left with a lot on their shoulders getting into the WC #INDvWIN
— Hemang Badani (@hemangkbadani) November 1, 2018
Too good. India simply too good for Windies today. The decision to bat after winning the toss sucked the life of this contest... #IndvWI
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) November 1, 2018
West Indies couldn’t challenge India in the last match today. An easy win and a satisfactory series victory for the Indian team. Congratulations to the team and the management. #IndvWI pic.twitter.com/cCNOugtw42
— R P Singh (@rpsingh) November 1, 2018
Congratulations @BCCI team india ???????? https://t.co/gFeF6te7rT
— Suresh Raina???????? (@ImRaina) November 1, 2018
Many many congratulations team india Boy’s good win and good show with bat and bowl ✌????✌????✌????✌????@imVkohli @ImRo45 @imjadeja @msdhoni @SDhawan25 @RayuduAmbati @circleofcricket @BhuviOfficial @Jaspritbumrah93 @y_umesh @imkuldeep18 @yuzi_chahal @klrahul11 @im_manishpandey pic.twitter.com/e7e9uQRRJb
— Mohammad Shami (@MdShami11) November 1, 2018
Runs for Rayudu somewhat reduces anxeties about batting, otherwise dependent on Kohli and Sharma. But others must contribute consistently too. Khaleel find of the series IMO. Swings the ball late and shown fine wicket-taking ability. Left-arm seamer also adds variety to attack
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) November 1, 2018
Most consecutive ODI series wins at home , congratulations @BCCI , been clinical through out , the real win would be ,a few places have been sealed and a few finds have been made #TeamIndia #INDvsWI
— subramani badrinath (@s_badrinath) November 1, 2018