After dominating the first ODI against the West Indies in their first away tour where the focus shifted to white-ball cricket, Team India did not have the best of starts in the second ODI, which was played in Bridgetown, on Saturday, July 29. Shai Hope the host captain won the toss and decided to have a go with the ball first. Justifying his decision, his bowlers repaid the faith by taking wickets at regular intervals. As a result, the visitors got rattled as their middle order just collapsed and they could only manage to post 181 runs on the board.
However, during the run chase of the hosts, Indian bowlers put up a good show and gave a good start for captain Rohit Sharma. But soon after Shai Hope ensured and played a captain's knock along with Keacy Carty to seal the match for the hosts. Interestingly, while the hosts were struggling to break the huge stand of the duo, Suryakaumar Yadav was found motivating Kuldeep Yadav in a rather unexpected and hilarious way.
— Sanju Here 🤞👻 (@me_sanjureddy) July 30, 2023
While motivating the spinner, Sky reminded him of the character named 'Kachra' from the Indian movie, Lagaan. For the unversed, Kachra was one of the key characters in the cricket-based movie where his side was struggling to get the wickets of the British officers while due to a mysterious action, Kachra went on to bamboozle and decimate their batting lineup with mind-boggling spin. Not only did he rattle the opponent but also went on to claim a hat-trick which changed the complexion of the match.
Hence, the Mumbai-based batter hoped that Kuldeep might end up bowling a miraculous spell to bring back Team India into the game but it wasn't meant to be. In the end, West Indies defeated the visitors quite convincingly by 6 wickets.
The series decider between two teams will be played at a new ground in Trinidad
Notably, after having a dismal run in the World Cup Qualifiers recently, the West Indies have finally ended their losing streak despite not having qualified for the upcoming ODI World Cup, scheduled to be played in India, later this year. Meanwhile, the third ODI of the series will be a historic game as both sides have never played an ODI at the Brian Lara stadium at Tarouba in Trinidad. So far, only once India have played the Men in Maroon, which was last year in the T20 format.
Now speaking of the third ODI, Team India are trying to check young blood in the side keeping in mind the upcoming World Cup at home and giving them a chance as part of an ongoing audition before the Indian team is announced for the mega event. Despite giving rest to senior players, the talented Suryakumar Yadav, who could play a key role in India's campaign in the future looked rusty yet again and failed to get going in the ODI format. However, the team management has indicated that they will want to back him and hope he will justify his talent which he has replicated in the T20I format.
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