New Chandigarh: India’s ODI team is in a phase where it is on the lookout for stern challenges to identify its own core group for the World Cup in South Africa, which is a year away. After two lopsided victories in the first two ODIs, India were finally tested by West Indies for the entire length of the match, which ended with captain Shai Hope’s effortless unbeaten 162 off 143 balls chasing down 352-run target with 10 balls and five wickets remaining.Coming out to open the batting, Hope overshadowed KL Rahul’s counterattacking unbeaten 129 off 87 balls that propelled India to 351/7. Dew may have played a part, but Hope’s experience tamed down India’s inexperienced bowling with consummate ease as the West Indies team pulled one back in the series to soothe the pain of the impending pay cuts in their match fees.India’s greatest challenge coming into the series was to identify a backup pace attack to complement Jasprit Bumrah. The team management may have to wait a little longer to nail the pace attack.Be it the pace and movement up front in the match or Hope’s unwavering temperament in the chase, India were always playing catch-up. When Jayden Seales breached Virat Kohli’s defence immediately after removing Shubman Gill off the previous ball in the third over of the match, the conditions seemed like what one may expect in South Africa in a year’s time. If ever the selectors needed an affirmation about Rohit Sharma’s capability to survive and dominate in testing conditions, his carefully paced knock of 92 off 85 to put India back on track did just that.After the first 10 overs of the match, where India laboured to 32/2, Rohit broke free along with Ruturaj Gaikwad to resume the usual business of brisk run-scoring. India kept losing wickets at regular intervals, but the scoring rate maintained an upward trajectory till they finished with 351/7.As has been the trend in the series, run scoring never looked challenging for the batters. Just like India cruised to victory while chasing big totals in the previous two games, West Indies batters too looked fairly untroubled in the evening. The only thing that troubled Hope was running between the wickets with cramps. Had Amir Jangoo not been run out for 67 off 56, things would have moved at a faster rate for West Indies.Rahul’s innings did have a couple of dropped catches in it, but his fluency was such that one couldn’t make out this was his only outing with the bat in the series. Rahul faces stiff competition from Ishan Kishan for holding on to his spot in the XI. Saturday’s knock will improve his stocks as the lead wicketkeeper in the team.
