Taking lessons from the final match of ICC Champion’s Trophy 2017, Team India is braced up to take on West Indies in a five-match ODI series, due on June 23. A brief look at Team India’s history reveals that the ‘men in blue’ have played 29 bilateral ODIs against West Indies since 1983. Out of these, they’ve won 10 matches, lost 18 and played one series with no-result.
Here are some snippets from the past involving the best matches in India vs. West Indies ODI series. It’ll make you familiar with how the Indian cricket team has fared in the Caribbean over the years.
- Series Played before the 1983 World Cup
Though India lost the series, it ended up winning the 1983 World Cup, wherein the team beat Clive Lloyd’s team. Despite being Team India’s first match against West Indies, cricketers like Sunil Gavaskar, Balwinder Sandhu, and Kapil Dev gave their best performances. India made the highest score 282 at the loss of 5 wickets. Kapil Dev made 72 runs from 38 balls with seven blazing fours and three sizes in the series. Gavaskar scored 90 runs from 117 balls. Top it with their excellent bowling performance; West Indies lost it to Team India for the first time.
- 1988-1989 and 1996-1997 Series: West Indies won both the series.
The 1988-89 series ended in a painful defeat for team India. West Indies won the final by 50 runs (on 6 wickets) and 101 runs (on 9 wickets). The star performers of the series were Haynes (337 runs), Greenidge (274 runs), Richardson (183 runs) and Vengsarkar (178 runs).
Another series held in 1996-1997, resulted in Wes Indies winning the match by 0-1. India put up a disappointing score of 179 runs in 48.3 overs. Regardless of the bowlers performed well, Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s maiden century led West Indies towards victory.
- India Nailed the 2002 series
This was India’s first ODI series win on Caribbean soils. A team built of newcomers like Dinesh Mongia, Tinu Yohannan, Ajit Agarkar and Ashish Nehra performed exceptionally well. Even the leading batsmen (Tendulkar and Dada) put up good scores against West Indies.
- 2011’s Series Won by India
Charged after winning the 2011 World Cup, Suresh Raina led Team India chased big scores and won three matches in succession. The rookies Shikhar Dhawan (51), Virat Kohli (81), Rohit Sharma (68), Parthiv Patel (56) and Raina (43) played remarkably well. Though team India lost the last two matches by 103 runs, the won the series.
In short, it’s thrilling to watch Men in Blue against Windies. This surely raised our anticipation for the upcoming India vs. West Indies series.
