RESULT
3rd ODI, North Sound, June 30, 2017, India tour of West Indies
251/4
(38.1/50 ov, T:252) 158

India won by 93 runs

Player Of The Match
78* (79)
ms-dhoni
New
WI
Full commentary

4.58pm Three matches done, two to go. Will India experiment a little with their XI? Can West Indies hit back somehow? Will we have any more rain? Answers to all these questions on Sunday. Until then, goodbye!

MS Dhoni, the Player of the Match: "It's like wine" [when asked about getting better with age]. "Top order has been doing the bulk of the scoring in the last one-one and a half years, so it felt good to get an opportunity and score runs. I think it was the nature of the wicket. Variable bounce, and at times the pace. It was important to have a partnership at that stage. In my mind I had 250, and we got there, with Kedar batting with me at the end. It was something the bowlers could defend, but they had to bowl well. It's important [to instruct and mentor spinners]. Kuldeep has played a lot of games, IPL, T20 format. When it comes to international cricket, it's important to know where to use your variety. Once he plays 5-10 games, he will realise it himself. The good thing is, compared to the last game, he bowled very well today."

Virat Kohli: "I think it was a clinical performance again. Early on there was quite a bit of moisture, it was a good toss to win, and they bowled really well. It was a good batting effort to get us to 250. The wicket played much better in the second innings. The bowlers created pressure and got breakthroughs at the right moments. It's about putting your hand up at the right time, its about how many people can stand up and put in those performances. We'll surely look into [making changes]. We have quite a few players who haven't had a game in a while."

Jason Holder: "Bowlers did a hell of a job. We put in a real good effort in the first 10 overs. If there is any criticism, we gave away too many runs in the back end. We've got to come hard, we've got to address our batting. In the end we've got to bat well."

While we wait for the presentation, some startling stats: Kedar Jadhav now has 10 wickets in ODIs at an average of 20.80 and a strike rate of 23.5.

VDG: "So many good contributions, it would be difficult to pick a particular performance to select the M.O.M. My guess would be Dhoni." -- Would be my guess too.

Rahul Oak: "A score of 250 worked against this West Indian team, but India would have struggled against stronger opposition with their slow-and-steady batting approach, especially with wickets in hand." -- Another team might have chased down 252, and there have been other occasions when India's slow build-up play has cost them, but today the conditions really were quite challenging, so the approach was merited.

4.38pm India go 2-0 up. An excellent performance after a bit of a rocky start in challenging conditions. West Indies, you'll have to admit, lacked that extra bit of quality they needed to make their early advantage count. But from the 10-over mark of India's innings, when Jason Holder pushed his field back and didn't press for wickets when Ajinkya Rahane and Yuvraj Singh were finding it hard to score, the visitors knew they just had to see out that little tough period to get back ahead. They took a while to even get their run rate up to four an over, but fireworks from MS Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav in the last ten overs ensured they'd set a challenging target.

A couple of decent partnerships in West Indies' innings - the Hope brothers initially, and then Jason Mohammed and Rovman Powell - but neither extended far enough to really push India's bowling. Lots of positives for India - new-ball swing for Bhuvneshwar and Umesh, two excellent bouncers from Pandya, another lovely display of drift and wristspin from Kuldeep, and a welcome three-for for Ashwin, who has not been among the wickets of late in ODIs.

38.1
W
Jadhav to Williams, OUT

the man has a golden arm, and he strikes first ball to finish off this match. Nicely bowled, a bit of drift away from the right-hander, who plays inside the line while defending. Beats the outside edge but spins back just enough to hit off stump

Kesrick Williams b Jadhav 1 (2b 0x4 0x6) SR: 50

Time for some fun. Kedar Jadhav into the attack.

end of over 381 run • 1 wicket
WI: 158/9CRR: 4.15 RRR: 7.83
Devendra Bishoo4 (11b)
Kesrick Williams1 (1b)
Ravichandran Ashwin 10-1-28-3
Kuldeep Yadav 10-1-41-3
37.6
Ashwin to Bishoo, no run

tossed up slower, just outside off, stretches out and defends with soft hands

37.5
Ashwin to Bishoo, no run

back of a length, that arm ball again, swinging towards off stump. Nicely back and across to defend

37.4
1
Ashwin to Williams, 1 run

oh, good ball. A bit of away-drift late in its flight even though it was fairly flat, on off and middle. Came forward, defended slightly inside the line, and the ball rolled towards backward point off the outside half of the bat

Kesrick Williams in at No. 11, on debut.

37.3
W
Ashwin to Cummins, OUT

gone, that's Ashwin's 150th in ODIs. An excellent delivery to bring up the milestone. Cummins was playing everything off the back foot, and Ashwin bowled that arm ball again. It was too full to be playing back to, and by the time the bat came down in defence, it had slid through and struck his back pad in front of middle stump

Miguel Cummins lbw b Ashwin 1 (4b 0x4 0x6) SR: 25
37.2
Ashwin to Cummins, no run

play and miss, looks to stab at one that's a little shorter outside off, but it wasn't short enough

37.1
Ashwin to Cummins, no run

there's that swinging arm ball again. Plays back to a fairly full ball, blocks to midwicket

end of over 374 runs • 1 wicket
WI: 157/8CRR: 4.24 RRR: 7.30
Miguel Cummins1 (1b)
Devendra Bishoo4 (9b)
Kuldeep Yadav 10-1-41-3
Ravichandran Ashwin 9-1-27-2
36.6
1
Kuldeep to Cummins, 1 run

googly, flighted nicely outside off. Comes forward to defend and the inside edge pops up into the vacant short leg region. Kuldeep finishes with 3-41. He took three in the previous game too

Miguel Cummins. Two left-handers at the crease now. Slip and leg slip in.

36.5
W
Kuldeep to Mohammed, OUT

oh no. Mohammed was looking good, and now he's out to a poor choice of shot. Looks to sweep from the stumps, and goes after one that's too full. It hits his front foot almost on the full. Yorked the boot. He's called for a review, but this just looked plumb on first viewing... No inside-edge. Pitches on middle, straightening to hit low on middle, and it's even plumber after ball-tracking has its say

Jason Mohammed lbw b Kuldeep Yadav 40 (61b 4x4 0x6) SR: 65.57
36.4
Kuldeep to Mohammed, no run

googly, doesn't really turn, goes with the angle towards off stump and he goes on the back foot to defend

36.3
1
Kuldeep to Bishoo, 1 run

shortish on off stump, chopped away to the left of sweeper cover

36.2
1
Kuldeep to Mohammed, 1 run

short, rocks back and pulls in the air, but on the bounce, to long-on

36.1
1
Kuldeep to Bishoo, 1 run

tossed up outside off, shows the full face to drive down to long-off

AmericanCricket: "To those who were complaining about India's 'slow' run rate earlier. This shows the importance of keeping wickets intact regardless of the run rate. When you need to score, like the West Indies do now, they won't have the firepower to back up their intentions."

end of over 362 runs
WI: 153/7CRR: 4.25 RRR: 7.07
Devendra Bishoo2 (7b)
Jason Mohammed39 (58b 4x4)
Ravichandran Ashwin 9-1-27-2
Kuldeep Yadav 9-1-37-2
35.6
1
Ashwin to Bishoo, 1 run

a bit slower now and Bishoo sweeps it away to deep square leg

35.5
Ashwin to Bishoo, no run

arm ball now, drifting in towards off stump, comes forward to defend and it hits the inside half of the bat

35.4
Ashwin to Bishoo, no run

tossed up now, defended back to the bowler

35.3
Ashwin to Bishoo, no run

not quite short enough to cut, plays and misses

35.2
Ashwin to Bishoo, no run

oh, that's a beauty. Did it turn enough, though? Sliding down leg, I think. Loads of drift into the left-hander from around the wicket to strike pad. Didn't seem to straighten enough as he looked to drive to mid-off, played outside the line

35.1
1
Ashwin to Mohammed, 1 run

flat, angling into the pads, clipped to the right of midwicket

end of over 353 runs
WI: 151/7CRR: 4.31 RRR: 6.73
Jason Mohammed38 (57b 4x4)
Devendra Bishoo1 (2b)
Kuldeep Yadav 9-1-37-2
Ravichandran Ashwin 8-1-25-2
34.6
1
Kuldeep to Mohammed, 1 run

tossed up on off stump and Mohammed pushes to mid-off for the quick single

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