5 Key Takeaways from India vs West Indies in 2019
After narrowly missing out on the Cricket World Cup final in the summer of last year, India was raring to go against their rivals the West Indies in a tour that ran from the 3rd of August through to the 3rd of September.
The tour was played in the West Indies and the USA, with games held in the likes of Antigua, Florida, Trinidad and Guyana.
Needless to say, India was the firm favourites according to the West Indies preview on Sportsbet.io. But what we can take away from India vs West Indies tour?
India’s dominance
India won all the of the matches in the tour, including the Test series, Twenty20s and One Day Internationals. They came away with a flawless victory in each one, the only exception being the 1st ODI test in Guyana that was called off because of rain during the West Indies innings.
The two-Test wins put India firmly at the top of the 2019 – 2021 ICC World Test Championship Table with seven wins, zero losses and 360 points scored.
Change needed for West Indies
With Gayle’s days numbered the West Indies will look to their up and coming stars to lead the way for change in a period of consideration for the side.
Younger players such as John Campbell, Brandon King and Obe McCoy will be the ones to hopefully bring new life to the international team, especially given their impressive start to life in Twenty20 competitions.
The Kohli show
Scoring the most runs across the tour as a whole, captain of India Virat Kohli assured his star status – making this his 28th series win and becoming the most successful Indian international captain in the history of the country.
Alongside this, he won player of the match for two of the three ODI tests and was hailed as the standout of the whole tour.
Chris Gayle makes history
The 11th of August was the 2nd ODI test of the tour, and Chris Gayle became the first West Indian cricketer to play in 300 ODI matches. After playing three ODIs for the ICC World XI, his 297th ODI for the West Indies marked a monumental achievement for the country – even though he had announced his retirement from ODIs in February 2019.
In the same match, Gayle also became the leading run-scorer for a West Indies batsman in ODI cricket. He beat Brian Lara's record of 10,348 runs.
Looking forward
Following this past tour, both teams will now look towards their 2020 schedules.
For the West Indies, their first big challenge will come against England in June – with the Windies looking to beat the hosts at their own grounds such as Lord’s, Edgbaston and the Oval.
For India, they have a number of tours coming up, including their tour of New Zealand from January to March, followed by South Africa coming to visit them shortly after.
For both, the upcoming T20 World Cup in October will be held in high regard, as it will for the rest of the 43 teams competing.