Renuka and Deepti shine as India dominate West Indies in women’s ODI series

Renuka Thakur and Deepti Sharma put on a spectacular display of bowling skills to annihilate West Indies by five wickets and secure an emphatic triumph in the third and decisive ODI at the Kotambi Stadium, Vadodara. With this resounding victory, India achieved a flawless sweep in the three-match ODI series.

Thakur (4/29) and Deepti (6/31) wreaked havoc, sharing 10 wickets between them and crippling the tourists’ batting lineup. Thakur’s devastating spell with the new ball set the tone early, as her line and length aided by the swing on offer proved too much to handle for West Indies’ top order.

The pacer struck with the first delivery of the match, dismissing opener Qiana Joseph for a golden duck, and then removed skipper Hayley Matthews — the previous match’s centurion — for another duck. She followed it up with the dismissal of the destructive Deandra Dottin (5) to strengthen India’s hold on the game.

“There was swing on offer and I tried to take advantage of the conditions,” said Player-of-the-Series Thakur. “In Australia, we didn’t do well and when I came back to India, the plan was to try and improve and take wickets during my second spell. I worked a lot with Jhulan (Goswami) and it really helped me a lot.”

While Thakur shone with the new ball, Deepti took over during the middle overs deceiving the batters with flight and turn. The off-spinner registered her third ODI five-wicket haul and her career-best ODI figures with six wickets for just 31 runs in 10 overs.

Despite the early setbacks, West Indies put up a resilient show through a 97-run partnership between all-rounder Chinelle Henry (61) and wicket keeper batter Shemaine Campbelle (46). Their gritty stand took the visitors past the 150-run mark but no other batter managed to reach double digits apart from Aaliyah Alleyne (21).

However, their efforts were not enough to revive the innings as the Indian bowlers continued to chip in at regular intervals. The West Indies’ hopes of a consolation win in the series were extinguished when their innings came to an end in the 39th over with 162 runs on board.

Later, chasing a modest target of 163, India appeared to be cruising at the halfway mark of the match until the early dismissals of Smriti Mandhana (4) and last match’s centurion Harleen Deol (1) provided a glimmer of hope for the visitors.

Pratika Rawal (18) and skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (32) were also dismissed within a span of just 20 deliveries, leaving India in a fix. However, Jemimah Rodrigues (29) and Deepti Sharma (39*) stitched a crucial 59-run partnership for the fifth wicket to regain momentum.

Finally, Richa Ghosh provided a final flourish with an unbeaten 11-ball 23 to seal the deal for India.

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