All-round Axar on show as India clinch ODI series victory

It was another nail-biting finish in the second ODI at the Queen’s Park Oval on Sunday as India clinched the series victory with a tight two-wicket win over the West Indies. Chasing 312, half-centuries from Shreyas Iyer and Sanju Samson set up the win for India before Axar Patel played a magnificent knock of 64 from 35 balls to steer the Men in Blue home with two balls to spare and give the visitors an unassailable 2-0 series lead.

India began their chase with the two openers facing contrasting fortunes in the powerplay. Although Shubman Gill carried on from where he left off in the first ODI with some crisp strokes, Shikhar Dhawan struggled to find any fluency and departed after an uncharacteristic innings of 13 from 31 balls. India managed to score only 42 runs and three boundaries in the powerplay, and the chase got even tougher when Gill threw his wicket away on 43 against Kyle Mayers before Suryakumar Yadav chopped onto his stumps for the second game in a row.

However, from 79 for 3, Shreyas Iyer and Sanju Samson led the recovery for the Men in Blue. Both batters went after the West Indian spinners in their attacking 99-run stand, with Samson carting Akeal Hosein and Hayden Walsh for three sixes over long-off to bring up his maiden half-century in ODI cricket. Iyer took his time to get going, but the number three managed to get on top of his short ball woes to continue his excellent form against the West Indies in the format.

Alzarri Joseph broke the partnership with a leg-stump yorker to remove Iyer, and the West Indies wrestled back the control of the match when Sanju Samson was run-out on 54. However, with 100 needed off the last ten overs, Axar Patel produced a sensational knock to gift India a memorable victory. The left-hander launched Hosein and Shepherd for sixes and shared a 51-run stand with Deepak Hooda to halve the deficit. Patel continued the onslaught after Hooda’s untimely departure, smashing five sixes and three fours to score his maiden ODI fifty and take India over the line in the final over.

Earlier, the West Indies got off to an aggressive start in the powerplay with Kyle Mayers bashing 39 runs from 22 balls before falling to the part-time off-spin of Deepak Hooda. The opening pair hit 11 boundaries in the powerplay, but India managed to pull things back slightly through the middle as the spinners dried up the runs. However, Shai Hope and Nicholas Pooran added 117 for the fourth wicket to get the innings back on track. Hope smashed his 13th century in ODI cricket while Pooran hit six sixes in his 77-ball 74 as the West Indies finished with a formidable total of 311 for 6. Unfortunately for the hosts, thanks to Axar’s heroics with the bat, they once again fell short on the cusp of victory.