India pens history at the Queen’s Park Oval; clinches ODI series with a game to spare

There have been plenty of voices about the declining popularity of ODIs. But what unfolded at the Queen’s Park Oval on Sunday evening showed there's plenty of life left in the format.

India started their second contest against the Caribbean forces with a historic undertone that was looming on the horizon. However, the visitors failed to get the start that they would have wanted with Shai Hope spearheading the charge. Kyle Mayers brought out the heavy artillery early in the innings, allowing Hope to take his time to get his eyes in.

Despite the fall of Mayers to an off-spinning Deepak Hooda, Shamarh Brooks kept the juggernaut rolling as Hope started coming out of the shell. The duo put together a steady 62-run stand, propelling West Indies to a mighty fine 127 before India’s spinning synergy of Yuzvendra Chahal and Axar Patel managed to rack up two quick wickets that put a momentary halt on the Caribbean run-flow.

It was the following partnership however that pushed the needle in the Caribbean ascendancy once again as Pooran and Hope belted the Indian bowlers to every nook and cranny of the park, stitching together an incredible 117 runs for the fourth wicket before Shardul Thakur castled the Caribbean skipper around his legs.

Rovman Powell would hang around for a while before Shardul Thakur struck again to bring the Indians back in control of the contest in the end, despite the Caribbean battery in the middle making life difficult for the Indian bowlers.

Chasing 312, India got off to a decent start as Shubman Gill did the heavy lifting early in the innings. Gill’s ultra-aggressive stance would cost him his scalp while Suryakumar Yadav fell cheaply soon after too, allowing the hosts to pin down India.

With their backs against the wall, Shreyas Iyer and Sanju Samson stitched an impeccable partnership of 99 runs to stabilize India’s ship while a charge from Deepak Hooda in the middle helped India set up a sternum-churning finish.

As wickets tumbled at regular intervals for the Indians, it was Axar Patel who commanded the ship with fragmented resilience from the other end, that would eventually push the game to the final over, with the equation very much in India’s favor, keeping in mind that it would all revolve around the hard-hitting southpaw.

With 8 needed off the final over, Axar would miss the opening delivery that would bring down the equation to 8 off 5. This would be followed by another picture-perfect yorker from Mayers, forcing Axar to bring his bat down and rotate the strike to Siraj. The latter would instantly flip around by steering Mayer’s cherry to the point region that would reduce the equation to 6 needed from 3.

As Mayers steamed in Axar would eye this delivery to settle the scores once and for all, smashing the former’s misguided yorker beyond the ropes to send the Indian dugout and fans alike in a frenzied ecstasy of manic exhilaration. History was made as Team India sealed their 12th consecutive ODI series against the Windies, which would make them the ace team to savor unparalleled dominion against a side in ODIs, with the streak beginning in 2010 under the leadership of MS Dhoni.