India vs West Indies: 5 Downsides for India from the ODI series
India won the fifth ODI against West Indies by a convincing margin of 9 wickets. It was their second biggest win in terms of number of balls spared. They stormed to victory in the 15th over itself with a whopping 211 balls to spare. As a result of the clinical triumph, India have won the series by a comfortable margin of 3-1.
Khaleel Ahmed has been the new find of the series as the third seamer in their bowling attack. India should feel encouraged by the resurgence of Ambati Rayadu at the number four spot. Jadeja seems to have rediscovered his mojo in the middle-overs.
Both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have completed 1000 runs for the year. During the series, the Indian skipper became the fastest to reach 10,000 ODI runs. MS Dhoni has gone past Mark Boucher’s record for the most number of dismissals.
On the face of things, it looks like everything has gone perfectly well for India in the series. But it is not totally true. The resounding manner of victory in the last two ODIs has masked the weaknesses that surfaced earlier in the series.
Here are five ominous signs for India from the series.
#5 Shikhar Dhawan's surprisingly meager returns
Shikhar Dhawan came into the series with a lot of expectations after a successful Asia Cup. But his form dipped in this series. He got starts in the second, third and fourth ODIs with scores of 29, 35 and 38 but failed to capitalize on them. He finished the series with 112 runs in 5 innings at a below-par average of 22. In the T20I series, Dhawan has to start all over again to regain his form.