India vs West Indies 2019, 3rd ODI: 3 reasons why Windies lost the match

India won the decider of the 3-match ODI series against West Indies by 4 wickets at Cuttack to conquer the series 2-1. The win also helped India register their 10th successive bilateral ODI series win against West Indies.

Opting to bowl first, India did well to keep the West Indian batsmen silent for a long time. However, things changed drastically from the 41st over as the pair of Nicholas Pooran (89 runs off 64 balls) and West Indian skipper Kieron Pollard (74 runs off 51 balls) went berserk and scored 118 runs off the last 10 overs, helping their team post a competitive total of 315-5 at the end of 50 overs.

In reply, India too had a strong start as openers Rohit Sharma (63 runs off 63 balls) and KL Rahul (77 runs off 89 balls) added 122 runs for the first wicket and made the chase look an easy one. India lost their middle-order cheaply but a responsible skipper's knock from Virat Kohli (85 runs off 81 balls) and the heroics of Ravindra Jadeja (39 runs off 31 balls) and Shardul Thakur (17 runs off 6 balls) took India home with 8 balls to spare. Virat Kohli was awarded 'Man of the Match' for anchoring the Indian chase with his sensible batting.

Despite posting a 300+ total, West Indies failed to defend it and lost the match as well the series. Here are the 3 main reasons why West Indies lost the match.

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#1. A slow start by the Caribbean batsmen

West Indies had a surprisingly slow start to their innings.

Despite batting on a wicket that had very little assistance for the bowlers, West Indies could not score at an ideal rate. The openers started cautiously but became too defensive in the process. The middle-order too followed the same approach in an attempt to save wickets and very little aggressiveness could be seen in their batting.

West Indies scored 197 runs in the first 40 overs which was below par considering how explosive their batting order is. Although the pair of Nicholas Pooran and Kieron Pollard went after the Indian bowlers in the last 10 overs and compensated for the slow batting earlier to post a total of 315 runs, a bit of aggressiveness from the top order could have produced 30-40 extra runs which were missed dearly by West Indies while defending the target.

#2. Bowlers failed to take the advantage of India's middle-order failure

The Indian middle order had a collective failure in the 3rd ODI.

West Indian bowlers had to toil hard to get past the Indian top order as the openers and Virat Kohli steadily took the chase forward and did not look in any sort of discomfort in front of the Caribbean bowlers. However, things changed dramatically as the Indian middle-order, in the form of Shreyas Iyer (7 runs off 7 balls), Rishabh Pant (7 runs off 6 balls) and Kedar Jadhav (9 runs off 10 balls), failed for the first time in the series and that too when India needed a good partnership to keep their chances alive.

Despite getting the opportunity to bounce back, the West Indian bowlers failed to keep the scoring rate of India in check which allowed Kohli to build a run partnership with Jadeja and bring India back into the game.

#3. West Indies could not execute their plan in the last overs

Sheldon Cottrell

West Indies got the last chance to get themselves back into the match after getting Virat Kohli out in the 47th over. Although India had an equal chance of winning the match, some disciplined display in the field from the West Indian side could have tilted the match in their favour.

But the Caribbean side once again messed up with their opportunities. The bowlers needed to maintain tight lines keeping in mind the fielding strategy. Instead, they ended up giving Jadeja and Thakur enough room and time to find the gaps and send the ball to the fence. The 48th over bowled by Sheldon Cottrell (1/74) was taken for 15 runs which closed the door for West Indies in the match, leaving just 7 runs to win from the last two overs. Apart from this, the freebies gifted by West Indies too dented their chances.

West Indian bowlers looked clueless about what was the right line and length towards the end of the match, eventually allowing Jadeja and Shardul to score freely and win the match for India.