India vs West Indies: Shai Hope credits MS Dhoni after match-winning century

MULLANPUR: Skipper Shai Hope scored an unbeaten 162 off 143 balls as West Indies beat India by five wickets in the third and final ODI here on Saturday. It was a consolation for the West Indies after India sealed the three-match series with wins in the first two games.

KL Rahul (129 not out), Rohit Sharma (92) and Ruturaj Gaikwad (55) contributed to India’s 351/7. Hope led the West Indies’ chase and stayed till the end to get the job done in 48.2 overs. Amir Jangoo (67) and Keemo Paul (44) also contributed to the win. It was also the visitors’ highest chase in ODIs.

Skipper Shubman Gill said there are issues they need to address in all three departments before the World Cup comes along. “Lot of boxes ticked but there are some areas that definitely need fine tuning. Our fielding could be better. We dropped around 6-7 catches. That is not a good sign leading up to the World Cup.

“We need to work on our death bowling. We are not clear whether we’re attacking or defending, especially when we are bowling the death overs. One day such a game, if the opposition is five or six down, you are never really sure what fields to take, whether we are going for the death too early or we are still bowling kind of like middle overs. I think these are some areas which definitely we need to be better at,” said Gill at the post-match presentation.

Hope said former India captain MS Dhoni played a role in him becoming a better player. “I had a great chat with the great man MS Dhoni and he was telling me always have more time than you think. So just trying not to focus too much on the end result. Just look at the process, try to break the game down as best as I can and find ways to get the boundaries in the back end,” said Hope.

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