India vs Windies: Injured Nurse doubtful for Thiruvananthapuram ODI

What’s the story?

In what comes as another major jolt to the Windies, all-rounder Ashley Nurse is doubtful for fifth India vs Windies ODI after he injured his shoulder while bowling during the third ODI at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai.

The all-rounder has been vital in Windies’ staying competitive in the series thus far barring the last ODI where the Jason Holder-led unit was blown away by India by a margin of 227 runs.

Nurse, who played a pivotal role in the Windies 43-run in the third ODI at Pune, was barely able to bowl at full strength prompting skipper Jason Holder to opt for the part-time bowling of Rovman Powell.

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Nurse played a crucial hand of 22-ball-40 and backed it with a match-winning spell of 2-43 (10) which included wickets of Shikhar Dhawan (35) and MS Dhoni (7) to hand a much-needed a series-levelling win to the Windies.

The heart of the matter

Going into the fourth ODI, the Windies had a golden opportunity to register two back-to-back wins against Team India- something no other team has managed on Indian soil since 2015 (South Africa was the last side to achieve the feat during their 3-2 series win), but their hoper was quashed aside after Rohit Sharma (162) and Ambati Rayudu (100) helped the Men in Blue post a mammoth 5-377 in 50 overs.

For once, Windies’ batting suffered a complete meltdown against the likes of Khaleel Ahmed (3-13) and Kuldeep Yadav (3-42) and were eventually bowled out for 153; handing India their biggest ODI win (against a Full-Member nation) by 227 runs.

Also Read:- ICC warns Khaleel Ahmed

With India gaining an unassailable 2-1 lead and Nurse remaining a doubtful starter for the Thiruvananthapuram ODI, the road looks tumultuous for the Windies and it remains to be seen how they respond to adversity.

The fifth and final ODI will be played at Greenfield International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday, November 01.

The ODI series will be followed by a 3-match T20I series which starts at the Eden Gardens on November 04.

Here’s the tweet put out by the Windies Cricket Board official handle:-

Arrived in Trivandrum ahead of 5th ODI vs India.
Location reminds us so much of home! #WindiesCricket #ItsOurGame pic.twitter.com/SRGSzLacKz

— Windies Cricket (@windiescricket) October 30, 2018