After a huge victory in T20 series, India with the same intent won the second ODI against West Indies by 59 runs via DLS method. India made a 1-0 lead in the three-match series after the first game was washed out. Virat Kohli won the toss and this time elected to bat first.
Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma started the innings but Dhawan was caught out at a very early state scoring just two runs and getting hit with LBW. Later on, Kohli joined Rohit and made a half-century as he received a steady feed of deliveries on the pads that were easily put away for boundaries. They both made 68 runs in 15 overs. In spite of Rohit’s struggle of chasing the runs, he was caught out by Pooran at 18.
Pant batting at no. 4 left with a huge disappointment of 20 runs off 33 deliveries. However, Iyer’s start made everyone to be relieved from the pressure and eventually Iyer and Kohli’s combination made a three-digit score. Kohli kept on batting till he achieved a ton off 112 deliveries and has made his 42nd century in the ODI series. Kohli’s century and Iyer’s dashing 71 made India to set a huge score of 279 for 7.
In the second innings, West Indies made a good start but were interrupted by the rain and were set to a revised target of 270 in 46 overs. Chris Gayle who made a slow start ended up with 11 off 24 balls, but Evin Lewis being long time on the crease added 65 runs to the chase.
Lewis and Shimron Hetmyer got the chase back on track before the latter fell to Kuldeep Yadav to end the 40-run stand. After Hetmyer’s fall, Lewis and Nicholas Pooran managed to add 56 for the fourth wicket. Kuldeep dismissed Lewis while Pooran fell to Bhuvneshwar Kumar as West Indies slipped to 179 for 5 after keeping India on their stand. It was then Bhuveshwar pulled them down and West Indies ended up with 210 all out in the 42nd over.
Now, India will move on to play the final ODI of a three-match series with West Indies at Queen’s Park Oval on Wednesday.
VIRAT KOHLI | INDIA CAPTAIN | MAN OF THE MATCH:
Good outing with the bat. Exactly why we wanted to bat first. If you saw the latter half of the West Indies innings, it was difficult to bat on. I think the rain in between helped them else it would have been tough to bat in the middle overs. We knew that anything over 270 would be challenging.
Feels good to get a hundred when the team wanted me to get one. Shikhar and Rohit didn’t get a big one. One of the top three has always got the big one. A senior man had to step up and today was my opportunity to step up. It was important to string in a lot of dot balls. The batting became a little easy thanks to the rain when Hetymer and Pooran were batting together. It was tough gripping the ball when it went into the outfield. It was about staying in there and hoping one wicket will put pressure on them and luckily we got the wickets.
The number of left-handers works in favor of Kuldeep and that’s why we went in with him rather than Chahal. He is more lethal against the left-handers because of his variations and the lines that he bowls to them. Kedar was precise as well. With the number of left-handers, you want to go with a chinaman bowler rather than a leggie. With Jadeja playing, it helps our balance. He (Iyer) is a very confident guy and has the right attitude. Really got the tempo going and took the pressure off me. After I got out, he got the extra runs as well.
SHREYAS IYER | BATSMEN:
It was a fruitful day. I knew I was going to do well, I played for India A and I played in these grounds, paced my innings well and think it went well. I decided that I wouldn’t take any risks, Virat told me that we needed to build a partnership and take the innings deep. He supported me very well, we took the ones and twos, hit the boundaries when it came. We decided 250 was a good score, obviously, we got 30 runs extra. He told me to bat at least until the 45th over, I am thankful for what I managed. I want to stay in the team for a while, the consistency is always important, I want to play well and contribute to the team.
JASON HOLDER | WEST INDIES CAPTAIN:
Extremely disappointing. We bowled really well and the game was in our hands. We lost crucial wickets at the back end to lose the game. We need to take responsibility. We need to take the game deep. The pitch was pretty good but the bowlers despite the humid conditions did well. The batters have to take responsibility. They have been letting us down far too often.
