Suryakumar Krishna propel India to series win vs West Indies

Ahmedabad, February 9

India clinched a series win over West Indies after pacer Prasidh Krishna tore through the tourists’ top- order today, taking four wickets to lead India to a 44-run victory in the second One-day International.

Building on their six-wicket win Sunday over West Indies in the opening ODI on Sunday, India defended a modest total of 237/9 to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.

Asked to bat, India set West Indies a target of 238, with Suryakumar Yadav top scoring for the hosts with 64 runs from 83 balls.

Yadav put together a 90-run stand with KL Rahul (49), which came to an end when a mix-up between the batters led to Rahul being run out.

For the West Indies, Alzarri Joseph and Odean Smith took two wickets apiece, with captain Kieron Pollard missing out on the match due to a “niggle”.

“There were some challenges. The partnership between Rahul and Surya had a lot of maturity,” said skipper Rohit Sharma. “We got to a respectable total in the end. We knew we could fight it out. The entire unit came out and bowled superbly.”

West Indies were jolted early in their reply after Krishna (4/12) dismissed opener Brandon King and Darren Bravo in successive overs, before getting the wicket of Nicholas Pooran (9) in the 20th over.

Shamarh Brooks (44) provided some resistance before he became Deepak Hooda’s first wicket in international cricket, missing out on his fifty when he holed out to long on.

Smith then provided the West Indies a glimmer of hope towards the end of the innings with a knock of 24, which included a couple of sixes, but West Indies were eventually bowled out for 193 inside 46 overs. —