Ball-by-Ball Commentary
- —WI· 03 Oct 2026, 11:47 pm
Gill collects the trophy and joins his team-mates. They pose with the WINNERS board. India won the first two matches convincingly with their top three batters doing the bulk of the scoring. Today, they lost Gill and Kohli cheaply. Rohit stepped up and missed out on another ton by 8 runs, Ruturaj Gaikwad scored 57 after being dropped four times but it was KL Rahul's unbeaten 129 that powered India to 351. In reply, captain Shai Hope opened the innings today and batted till the end to take his team over the winning line with a magnificent 162*, stitching four 50+ stands. Three matches were played in different parts of the country but the pattern remained similar. Good batting wickets, high-scoring encounters, centurions for both teams and the chasing team emerging victorious. It's time to bring the curtains down on this ODI series. The action now shifts to the shortest format. The 5-match T20I series commences on Tuesday (October 6th) and we'll be bringing you all the action. Until then, goodbye...
- —WI· 03 Oct 2026, 11:31 pm
Shubman Gill | India captain and Player of the Series: Lot of boxes ticked. I think there are still some areas that definitely need some fine tuning. I was very happy with the total. I think the game was in control. But being behind four overs with this dew and then in the last, I think they took the game away from us. Had we not been shortened the overs, the game might have went to the last over. [On whether there was a temptation to bring Kuldeep Yadav into the attack earlier] No, not really. We didn't know if Gurnoor was gonna come back and bowl with his cramps. So there was a bit uncertainty there. And we knew the match is gonna go till the end. And, he's a wicket-taker and I wanted his couple of overs to be there in the end. [On India's progress as an ODI side despite injuries and an unsettled squad] Decently pleased I would say, but like I said, I think there are still some areas. Our fielding could be much better. Overall in the series I think we dropped around six or seven catches, which is not a good sign leading up to the World Cup. You want your fielding to be top notch. [On the areas that still need fine tuning] Death bowling as well. I feel, sometimes we are not really clear whether we are attacking or we are defending, especially when we are bowling the death overs. One day such a game, if the opposition is five or six down, you are never really sure what fields to take, whether we are going for the death too early or we are still bowling kind of like middle overs. I think these are some areas which definitely we need to be better at. [On missing out on a big score after getting out early] You're always disappointed whenever you get out early. But I think today, I don't think I could have done much that I would have done on that ball.
- —WI· 03 Oct 2026, 11:28 pm
Hope (2/2): [On West Indies' record run chase and the overall ODI series] I think we played some really good cricket in patches. The batters were scoring some runs. That's what we really wanted to do. So yeah, we've been doing really well for the last two, three years where batters have been more consistent. We asked them to put big scores on the board. It's always difficult bowling in these conditions. We know India, more batter friendly. You got to bring your skills out and very, very, very small margins for error. So from a bowling standpoint, we learned a lot. I'm sure the guys are going to take this and hopefully we can get a lot better in the bowling side of things going forward. [On recovering in time for the upcoming shorter format] So hopefully, I got two days to turn things around, so hopefully I'm match ready.
- —WI· 03 Oct 2026, 11:28 pm
Shai Hope | West Indies captain and Player of the Match(1/2): [On winning the match while chasing and finishing the series on a strong note] Yeah, it's something in India, it's always a lot easier, especially when dew comes out. But yeah, we wanted to finish the series on a strong note, so I'm just happy the guys got over the line today. [On when he started feeling discomfortable] Probably about 30 overs in, felt a little something in the groin area. So just tried to fight to the end there. [On how he paced his innings and managed the chase] Well, firstly, we were a batter down, probably two if you count Vitel Lawes as well. So it would always be a challenge. And something that I had a great chat with the great man MS Dhoni, he was telling me you always have more time than you think. So just trying not to focus too much on the end result. Just look at the process, try to break the game down as best as I can and find ways to get the boundaries in the back end. I even thought about the overs that the Indian team were behind. So I knew they would have to bring a couple fielders in, in the back end. So it's always tough when you're trying to defend a score and you got to have five men in the ring. So all those things I calculated when I was batting. Just so happened that everything worked out for us in the back end.
- —WI· 03 Oct 2026, 11:00 pm
Stats by Deepu Narayanan Most POTS awards (India) 15 Sachin Tendulkar 11 Virat Kohli 7 Yuvraj Singh 7 Sourav Ganguly 7 MS Dhoni 7 Shubman Gill Each of Gill's seven POTS came since 2022, no other Indian player has more than three in this period. Highest successful chases by WI in ODIs 352 vs Ind New Chandigarh 2026 328 vs Ire Dublin 2019 326 vs Eng North Sound 2023 322 vs Ban Basseterre 2024 309 vs Pak Providence 2017 Highest successful chases vs India in ODIs 359 Aus Mohali 2019 359 SA Raipur 2025 352 WI New Chandigarh 2026 348 NZ Hamilton 2020 337 Eng Pune 2021 Highest scores in a run chase for WI (ODI) 162*S Hope vs Ind New Chandigarh 2026 162 C Gayle vs Eng St George’s 2019 153 B Lara vs Pak Sharjah 1993 149*S Chanderpaul vs Ind Nagpur 2007 Highest scores in a run chase vs India (ODI) 162*S Hope New Chandigarh 2026 160 T Dilshan Rajkot 2009 158 A Strauss Bengaluru 2011 151*S Jayasuriya Wankhede 1997 Highest scoring rate in a bilateral series (3+ ODIs) 7.43 Ind vs WI in India 2026 7.15 Eng vs NZ in England 2015 7.00 Ind vs Eng in India 2017 6.97 Eng vs Pak in England 2019 This is the eighth instance of both designated wicketkeepers scoring 100s in an ODI. The most recent one came in the WC game between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in Hyderabad in 2023.
- —WI· 03 Oct 2026, 11:00 pm
Paul (2/2): [Appreciation for your captain?] Definitely, definitely. Shai, he's a modern-day legend, man. And the way he's batted this series is quite amazing. So yeah, definitely. [On his performance going forward] Well, for me it's just not to get complacent. I just want to take it as a stepping stone and contribute to the team whenever I get the opportunity. I just want to keep performing. I'm happy and yeah, just do my best always. [Your thoughts on your bowling?] Well, like it's from the past two games, we had our plans. We were just trying to hit that length as hard as possible, the top of the stump length. So that was basically the plan on these wickets. It's quite tough. So you got to bring your skills out, try to scramble seam the ball as much as possible. So that was my plan.
- —WI· 03 Oct 2026, 11:00 pm
Keemo Paul (1/2): [What was the chat there with Shai struggling a bit?] Well yeah, obviously when I was in the middle with Shai, the plan was just to try and keep the required runs under eight runs per over. So that was basically the plan, like you said, Shai was struggling a bit. So I knew I had to take a few chances. [What was the discussion in the dressing room knowing that Jewell was injured?] Well yeah, I mean coach spoke to us saying we were just trying to break the game down in phases. I mean we saw India batted in the last two games and chasing is always good on these wickets. So we always had the confidence. We backed ourselves and we got the job done tonight. So that's awesome.
- —WI· 03 Oct 2026, 11:00 pm
17:30 GMT, 23:00 IST: Record run-chase for West Indies, thanks to Shai Hope's incredible knock. In reply to India's 357, they lost the in-form John Campbell cheaply, with Siraj striking in the powerplay. That brought the other two centurions from the previous game together. Although there were a few plays and misses in the first powerplay, Shai Hope and Amir Jangoo batted at a good tempo and forged a century stand for the second wicket. Just when it looked like India ran out of ideas, a run-out resulted in Jangoo getting out. Hope was involved in two back-to-back fifty stands after that. First with Sherfane Rutherford, who was wrongly adjudged caught behind even though he reviewed. And then with Keemo Paul. That was a key partnership. Hope was struggling a bit and Paul became the aggressor to keep the asking rate under check. West Indies, who were ahead of the rate till the 40th over, lost a bit of momentum after Paul's downfall. With 56 needed off the last 5 overs, Hope once again pressed on the accelerator. He went after Kuldeep in the 46th over with a six and a four, hit back-to-back boundaries against Brar in the following over and then the 48th over almost sealed the deal for West Indies as Anshul Kamboj leaked 22 runs. Motie played his part as well as the unbeaten 62-run stand for the sixth wicket took WI home with 10 balls to spare.
- 48.2WI· 03 Oct 2026, 10:59 pm
Naman Dhir to Shai Hope, 1 run, 80.7kph, short of length outside off, Hope goes on the back foot to slap it down to long-off. West Indies win by 5 wickets and it's fittingly their captain who hits the winning runs. This is West Indies' highest successful run-chase in ODIs
- 48.1WI· 03 Oct 2026, 10:58 pm
Naman Dhir to Shai Hope, SIX, 95.7kph, full toss outside leg and Hope gets low to slog it over deep backward square leg. Scores level
- —WI· 03 Oct 2026, 10:58 pm
Just 7 needed off the last two overs.
- —WI· 03 Oct 2026, 10:58 pm
Naman Dhir [5.0-0-26-1] is back into the attack
- 47.6WI· 03 Oct 2026, 10:57 pm
Anshul Kamboj to Gudakesh Motie, SIX, 22 runs off the over! That's a terrific hit from Motie. Banged in short, Motie clears his front leg, slightly crouches, takes his eyes off the ball but he connects superbly as he pulls hard to send it over deep backward square leg
- 47.5fourWI· 03 Oct 2026, 10:56 pm
Anshul Kamboj to Gudakesh Motie, FOUR, 133.9kph, short delivery from over the wicket, Motie moves leg-side to pull and top-edges it over the keeper's head. This is turning out to be a very expensive over
- 47.4WI· 03 Oct 2026, 10:55 pm
Anshul Kamboj to Shai Hope, 1 run, swung away to deep midwicket
- 47.3fourWI· 03 Oct 2026, 10:54 pm
Anshul Kamboj to Shai Hope, FOUR, four more! Full toss outside off, Shai Hope slaps it away through the covers. Jadeja runs to his right in the deep but doesn't put in a dive
- 47.3WI· 03 Oct 2026, 10:54 pm
Anshul Kamboj to Shai Hope, no ball, FOUR, Shai Hope gets to 150. A brilliant knock which could be a match winning one. Hope gives himself room and thumps it over mid-on for a boundary. To make matters worse, Kamboj has overstepped. Free-hit coming up
- 47.2WI· 03 Oct 2026, 10:51 pm
Anshul Kamboj to Gudakesh Motie, 1 run, 134.7kph, full toss from over the wicket, Motie backs away to slash and outside-halves to deep backward point
- 47.1WI· 03 Oct 2026, 10:50 pm
Anshul Kamboj to Shai Hope, 1 run, yorker length from round the wicket, flicked through backward square leg for just a single as Hope can't run quickly
- —WI· 03 Oct 2026, 10:49 pm
Anshul Kamboj [8.0-0-60-0] is back into the attack