The Indian team entered the West Indies series with a truckload of questions and would certainly walk out of the series with few of them getting answered. The skipper Rohit Sharma and head coach Rahul Dravid have been pretty much vocal about their experiments as well as constantly shopping and changing the team combinations. After the defeat in the second ODI against the West Indies, Dravid said that the team is looking at the series as the matches where they can fix their probable players for the upcoming ODI World Cup as well as the Asia Cup, which is set to be played from August 30.
Despite the Indian team winning the series, there are various questions that are still intact regarding the choices in the middle order. Let us now look at the top three talking points from India vs West Indies’ third ODI;
1. Ishan Kishan scoring three consecutive half centuries
Ishan Kishan has pretty much booked his seat for the upcoming ODI World Cup with three consecutive ODI half-centuries in this particular series. The star left-hand batter has been sublime in the opening position and would be certainly seen as the reserve opener for the marquee tournament. Kishan went on to score 184 runs in the three ODI matches that he played with an average of 61.33 as well as a solid strike rate of 111.52.
The elegant left-hand batter has scored three consecutive half-centuries in three ODIs that were played in the series. In all the ODIs that he played in the series, the Southpaw scored 52, 55, and 77, respectively.
2. Mukesh Kumar’s opening bowling spell
Another find for India in the series was certainly Mukesh Kumar, who is completely in a different league with the new ball in the third ODI. In his opening spell, Mukesh struck thrice dismissing the skipper Shai Hope as well as both the openers. In fact, the 29-year-old struck in his very first over where he dismissed Brandon King.
The right-arm pacer ended the match with an impressive bowling figure of 3/30 in the seven overs that he bowled.
3. Sanju Samson’s fearless batting approach in middle overs
The third ODI against the West Indies was a Do or Die type of match for the wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson. Samson came to the crease when Ruturaj Gaikwad was dismissed. But the wicket really did not bother Samson as he continued his positive approach and showed positive intent right from ball one. In fact, the 28-year-old batter got off to the mark with a humongous six.
In the innings of 51 runs which he played off just 41 deliveries, 32 runs came from boundaries or sixes, this shows the intent which he showed while bowling. With this innings, the wicketkeeper batter has certainly presented a very strong case in front of the selectors.