India vs West Indies: With 2-1 ODI series win, Men in Blue get clearer picture of their ideal World Cup combination

After being served a rude wake-up call in the form of a six-wicket defeat at the hands of the West Indies on Saturday, Team India bounced back in style with a commanding 200-run victory in the third and final ODI in Tarouba on Tuesday

What was expected to be a closely-fought series finale between the two sides at the Brian Lara Cricket Stadium, especially in the aftermath of Shai Hope and Co’s fightback in the second one-dayer, instead turned into a drab, one-sided contest from the moment openers Ishan Kishan and Shubman Gill set the ball rolling with a fiery start.

The Men in Blue would go on to post a massive 351/5 on the board riding on half-centuries from Gill (85) and Kishan (77) as well as from stand-in skipper Hardik Pandya (70) and Sanju Samson (51).

West Indies, who for a change had dominated the Indians in all the departments in Bridgetown on Saturday, were off to the worst possible start thereafter as Mukesh Kumar struck twice in his first two overs of the day and removed in-form skipper Hope later in his spell to break the backbone of the West Indian batting.

All-rounder Shardul Thakur then carried on from the initial damage caused by Mukesh, collecting 4/37 as the hosts were bundled out for a meagre 151, with the trio of Alick Athanaze (32), Gudakesh Motie (39) and Alzarri Joseph (26) helping the home team get past the 100-mark in the end.

The lopsided victory not only helped them take the three-match ODI series against the Windies 2-1, having won the series opener by five wickets before copping an upset defeat in the subsequent clash, but it also helped the Rohit Sharma-led side get a clearer picture of what their combinations for the Asia Cup and the ICC World Cup will be like.

The ODI series, after all, was something of an audition for a number of World Cup hopefuls to prove their worth ahead of the big-ticket events.

Skipper Rohit Sharma and star batter Virat Kohli hardly batted in the series opener at the Kenginston Oval and were rested in the subsequent matches, in order to ensure maximum game time for players hoping to cement their spots in the side. Pace spearhead Mohammed Siraj, meanwhile, had flown back home at the end of the Test series as the BCCI decided to exempt him from the white-ball fixtures.

Coach Rahul Dravid had insisted the Men in Blue were running out of time as far as experimentation was concerned, and made it clear results in this series were secondary. India after all, are desperate to end an ICC trophy drought that stretches back to 2013, and will be hoping to deliver a title on home soil later this year, for which they cannot afford to have any passengers in their squad.

As we arrive at the conclusion of the ODI series against the West Indies, we take a look at the players who have made the most of the opportunities in this series and have boosted their hopes of World Cup selection, and those who left a lot to be desired:

Who’s in

If there’s a player who well and truly stood out in the three ODIs, it’s opener and wicketkeeper-batter Kishan, who scored a half-century in each outing. If there’s one thing clear from this series, it is that Kishan will be part of the team’s plans going forward. And the kind of form that he is in at the moment, the Men in Blue sure can depend on him to bail them out of tight corners more often than not.

The 25-year-old, after all, finished as the leading run-scorer in the three-match series with 184 runs at an impressive average and strike rate of 61.33 and 111.51 respectively, bagging the ‘Player of the Series’ award in the process.

3️⃣ ODIs
3️⃣ Fifty-plus scores
1️⃣8️⃣4️⃣ Runs

Ishan Kishan was impressive & consistent with the bat and won the Player of the Series award