World Cup batting aspirants flop big time

Bridgetown: Indian team management's decision to rest skipper Rohit Sharma and premier batter Virat Kohli badly backfired as none of the World Cup hopefuls could cope with pace, bounce and turn against the West Indies, managing a dismal 180 in 40.5 overs in the rain-hit second ODI here on Saturday.

Losing five wickets for 23 runs in just 7.2 overs after opening stand of 90 between Ishan Kishan (55 off 55 balls) and Shubman Gill (34 off 49 balls) became India's undoing after the West Indies skipper Shai Hope opted to bowl.

The loss of momentum hurt India dearly but more than that, the rationale behind Rohit and Kohli's forced break with only 10 months left before the big event, didn't make much sense. Not to forget that the failures left more questions than answers.

There were two rain-delays but West Indies bowlers never let their intensity drop in an impressive display. While Kishan, who will not open during World Cup, consolidated his case for selection as second wicketkeeper (provided KL Rahul gets fit for World Cup) with a second successive halfcentury, the same couldn't be said about Sanju Samson (9 off 19 balls) and Axar Patel (1 off 8 balls).

Promoted as Nos 3 and 4 to keep the left-right combination going, both players struggled not only against short-ball tactic employed by Jayden Seales (1/28 in 6 overs), Alzarri Joseph (2/35 from 7 overs) and Romario Shepherd (3/37 in 8 overs) but also the grip, turn and bounce that spinners Gudakesh Motie (3/36 in 9.3 overs) and Yannic Cariah (1/25 in 5 overs) generated.

Just like the first game, the Kensington Oval pitch had a lot of spice and West Indies bowlers were steady save a brief period when Kishan and Gill did score runs at a brisk pace.

Kishan gave Motie the charge and got a six while Gill's on-drive was a treat for the eyes even though he never looked completely in rhythm. Once Motie gave the ball more air, a desperate Gill tried to loft him but was holed at long-off boundary.

Kishan, who had by then completed his 50 tried to square cut Shepherd when the ball bounced a tad more and the width wasn't big enough but Alick Athanaze took a fine diving catch at point. Skipper on the day Hardik Pandya (7 off 14 balls) was peppered with short balls and finally his patience gave off as he tried to pull Seals and Brandon King had an easy catch at mid-wicket.

Seals and Joseph had pried on the stand-in skipper's patience for a fair duration.

Brief scores: India 181; 40.5 overs (Ishan Kishan 55, Shubman Gill 34, Gudakesh Motie 3/36, Romario Shepherd 3/37) vs West Indies. (PTI)