Riding on Virat Kohli’s 42nd ODI ton, India beat West Indies by 59 runs (DLS method) in the 2nd match of the three-match ODI series on Monday.
After winning the toss at Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain, India captain Virat Kohli chose to bat first. India went in with an unchanged eleven from the first ODI that was washed out in Guyana on Thursday. It meant that Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer remained in No. 4 and No. 5, respectively.
India stumbled in the beginning as Shikhar Dhawan was trapped in front of the middle stump by Sheldon Cottrell off the third delivery of the innings.
However, Virat Kohli came in and turned the tables on the hosts. He scored 50 out of the 74-run partnership that he shared with Rohit Sharma before the latter fell to Roston Chase. Rishabh Pant then hit a 35-ball 20 before Carlos Brathwaite rattled his off stump.
Shreyas Iyer dug in with his captain as the pair went about accumulating runs on a steady note.
Enroute his eighth ODI ton against the West Indies, Kohli went past Sourav Ganguly’s tally of 11,221 runs to become India’s second-highest run-scorer in ODI cricket after Sachin Tendulkar (18,426 runs).
Kohli also crossed 2,000 runs against the West Indies in 34 ODI innings, the fastest by any batsman to go past that mark against a single team. In the process, Kohli surpassed Javed Miandad’s tally of 1,930 runs to become the highest run-scorer in ODIs against the Windies.
During the West Indies’ innings, rain marred the play and they got to chase a target of 270 runs in 46 overs.
At one stage, West Indies were 148 for 3 with Evin Lewis (65) and Nicholas Pooran (42) batting at the crease and taking the game away. But then Kuldeep Yadav got rid of Lewis and after that a typical West Indian batting collapse came to the fore.
The West Indies got all out for 210 runs in 42 overs, courtesy Bhuvneshwar Kumar 4 for 31.
Brief scores: India 279 for 7 in 50 overs (Virat Kohli 120, Shreyas Iyer 71; Carlos Brathwaite 3/53) defeated West Indies 210 for 10 in 42 overs (Evin Lewis 65, Nicholas Pooran 42; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 4/31) by 59 runs.
(With inputs from IANS)