West Indies had a massive record in sight. The target of 309, which looked formidable at the start of the chase, stood just inches away as the Nicholas Pooran-led home side were on the verge of registering their most successful ODI chase at the Queen’s Park Oval. A 115-run second-wicket stand between Kyle Mayers and Shamarh Brooks, a 51-run stand between Mayers and Pooran, a 56-run stand between Akeal Hosein and Brandon King and another half-century between Hosein and Romario Shepherd put West Indies close to the target, India needing 15 runs , to save herself in the final. But while Mohammed Siraj was brilliant with the ball in the last game, it was wicketkeeper Sanju Samson who stood between victory and defeat for the West Indies as India grabbed a narrow three-wicket win in a thriller in Port of Spain on Friday.
On the third ball of the last over, Shepherd smashed his third boundary of the match, blocking a fuller delivery from Siraj over backward square. West Indies managed seven runs already in the first four balls, needing 8 more in the last two.Seeing Shepherd shuffling towards the leg side, Siraj corrected his line and lunged down the leg side, but it went wide of the batter and looked set to run out for a gifted four. From the last ball, the equation would reduce to three. But keeper Samson was quick enough to track the ball as he dived hard to his left to stop the next drive, saving India from being denied a big ball.
Sanju Samson’s stop was the difference in the end. 100% of the border. And that would be Game Windies,” former India cricketer Aakash Chopra tweeted after the match. With seven needed from the last two balls, Siraj held his nerve and conceded just three more runs as India scripted a thrilling win to start the ODI series with a lead 1:0.” There were nerves at the end and they didn’t expect it to turn out like this. We kept our cool and one small change at the end where we moved the fine leg back and that really helped us. There was a discussion about using the bigger side as much as possible and we want to keep learning and improving for the rest of the competition,” India captain Shikhar Dhawan said at the end of the match after collecting his man. Man of the match award for his superb 97 out of 99.
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