On this day in 2017: Ashwin, Kuldeep weave magic as India beat West Indies
India toured the Caribbean islands for the limited-overs series after the conclusion of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 where they had made the finals going down to arch-rivals Pakistan. Prior to this tour, Anil Kumble had also stepped down as the head coach in a controversial manner and the Men in Blue had to prove themselves in these testing conditions.
India and the West Indies locked horns in the third One Day International at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua on June 30, 2017. The Windies skipper Jason Holder won the toss and chose to bowl first. India were in trouble after losing two early wickets before in-form opener Ajinkya Rahane bailed them out of trouble with a vital 72.
When he was dismissed in the 43rd over, the visitors’ scorecard read 170/4 and they had a task at hand from thereon. Nonetheless, MS Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav did not let the hosts gain command and staged counter-attacking knocks. Dhoni took the charge of anchoring the innings and went on to register a much-needed half-century.
MSD remained unbeaten on 78 while Kedar was not out on 40 runs off 26 balls. Their unbeaten 81-run stand for the fifth wicket powered India to a fighting total of 251/4. Even though it was a good batting wicket, the West Indies batters were undone by Kuldeep Yadav’s brilliance with the ball in hand and he worked in tandem with senior pro Ashwin.
The terrific spin duo did the bulk of the damage as the hosts were skittled out for 158 in just the 39th over as the Men in Blue came out on top convincingly by 93 runs. Ashwin finished with figures of 3/28 from his 10 overs including a maiden whereas, the wrist-spinner also contributed with match-winning figures of 3/41 from his 10 overs. Even he bowled a maiden, as well as the Windies, batters miserably failed to read him properly during his spell.
Veteran Mahendra Singh Dhoni was adjudged the Player of the Match award for his brilliant half-century and this also happened to be his 21st Man of the Match award.
