Credit: Twitter
On August 1, Tuesday, India’s captain Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are given a rest in the third ODI, the deciding match of the series, against the West Indies in Tarouba, Trinidad. Both these Indian stalwarts didn’t play in the previous one-day international for the national team in Bridgetown, Barbados, where the Men in Blue suffered a tough loss.
While batting first at the Kensington Oval, India actually started well as their two openers Ishan Kishan and Shubman Gill stitched together a 90-run stand. But then, everything started to go wrong for the visitors with the bat and the ball. They were bundled out for 181 runs in just under 41 overs, which led to the West Indies chasing down the target with six wickets in hand and more than 13 overs to spare.
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As Team India were on the receiving end of a humbling on July 29, Saturday, many fans and experts thought that Sharma and Kohli would return to the playing XI this Tuesday, but it wasn’t the case. The stand-in captain Hardik Pandya, at the toss proceedings, announced the two changes in the Indian starting lineup, bringing in Ruturaj Gaikwad and Jaydev Unadkat for Axar Patel and Umran Malik.
Moreover, the West Indies captain Shai Hope, who won the toss and decided to field first, announced an unchanged playing XI for the third ODI at the Brian Lara Stadium. Shortly afterward, the fans on social media started to tear into Indian team management for not playing Rohit Sharm and Virat Kohli in the decider. Some of the best Twitter reactions for the same are as under:
Now with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli getting rest in the third ODI, the fans will get the chance to see them play again next month, at the Asia Cup, which is scheduled to begin on August 30. In the meantime, Team India will be taking part in eight T20Is away from home in August, in which the five matches will be against West Indies, and then, the three matches will be against Ireland.
