India vs West Indies: 2nd ODI- Who Said What

The second ODI in Visakhapatnam turned out to be a high-scoring affair. Both India and the West Indies went hammer and tongs at the bowling, but in the end, the Men in Blue prevailed by 107 runs. Virat Kohli and Co also drew level in the three-match series with the decider to be played in Cuttack. Going into the next encounter, Kieron Pollard’s men need to sort their bowling out.

Rohit and Rahul set up massive total

The toss didn’t go in India’s favour as the hosts again lost it and were send in to bat first. But Rohit Sharma (159) and KL Rahul (102) made sure that India didn’t lose early wickets. The Caribbean bowlers had to wait a mammoth 37 overs to pick up their first wicket. Alzarri Joseph gave the visitors their first breakthrough, removing Rahul. Virat Kohli perished to Sheldon Cottrell for a golden duck.

Cottrell got rid of Shreyas Iyer (53) as well, but overall had a terrible day, leaking as many as 83 runs in his nine overs. Meanwhile, Shreyas shared a 73-run stand with Shreyas Iyer (39), who was in no mood to die wondering. Their stand took the Indian score well above 300. In the end, India managed 387 in their 50 overs. Iyer carried on with his good form as it was his fourth consecutive ODI fifty.

Pooran threatens, but Kuldeep shines

The West Indies got off to a decent start as Evin Lewis (30) and Shai Hope (78) put on 61 for the first wicket in 11 overs. Shardul Thakur drew first blood, dismissing Lewis. Then a brilliant piece of work in the outfield from Iyer accounted for dangerman Shimron Hetmyer’s run-out. Ravindra Jadeja cleaned up Roston Chase with a stupendous delivery that turned enough to hit the stumps.

After a flurry of wickets, Hope and Nicholas Pooran (75) took the attack to the opposition and stitched together a 106-run stand off 80 balls. The latter was the more attacking and he fell prey to Mohammed Shami, who picked up Kieron Pollard as well. Then Kuldeep Yadav’s second hat-trick for India sealed the fate of the match. Keemo Paul scored 46, but it was only to delay the inevitable.

Rohit Sharma, the Player of the Match, said

It was a much needed victory for us. We wanted to get out act together. We had a very very crucial partnership. KL batted brilliantly and allowed me to take my time. KL is such a talent when you watch it from the opposite end. He is growing in confidence. New partner and you saw the running between wasn’t up to the mark. But we will get better. We can take a lot of confidence from how we built that partnership. I have said it many a times, once you get past your 100, you should bat as long as possible. As long as a set batter is out, you can get how much you want. I have played 200 plus ODIs, it is my responsibility to get as many runs as I can for the team.

Virat Kohli, India’s skipper, said

I think what has been good is the last three, we have batted pretty well in the first half. Batting second has never been an issue. It is always good to see the team getting 40-50 extra. Shreyas and Rishabh, the way they played. It was fantastic hitting. Credit has to go to openers. Look, the more we get confident while batting first in T20 cricket, the better. We want to bat the opposition out of the game if we bat first. If the number 4 doesn’t get to bat consistently, then it doesn’t help.

We are just happy that a youngster has come in and is playing freely. Reviews are always left upon the keeper and the bowler. Wasn’t really pleased with how we take the review. Catching has been disappointing. It is very important to maintain standards. We are one of the best fielding sides in the world. Fielding is all about wanting the ball. As long as we are enjoying that, we will be right up there.

Kieron Pollard, West Indies’ skipper, said

I thought we gave away too many runs at the back end. We thought and saw that it will be a good wicket. They were able to get away from us at the back end. It was a matter of execution for us. We were not able to execute our plans how we want to. 40-50 runs less, it might have been little different. Rohit batted well and Rahul batted well as well. There are some youngsters and there are some talented ones. Pooran we got a glimpse of him tonight. Nothing happens overnight and they are a work in progress. Didn’t spend much time in there. Virat would look to come hard in the final game.

Kuldeep Yadav said

It has been a perfect day for me, taking a second hat-trick in ODIs. Still can’t find words to describe the feeling. It has been tough for me in the last 4-5 months. I have worked hard and been bowling well, it was a very satisfying performance. There was not a lot of turn on offer but we had 380 runs and we knew they would come hard. I was just varying my pace. I was a bit confused as to which one to bowl; whether to bowl the chinaman or wrong ‘un, I went for the wrong ‘un and put an extra fielder at slip (on the hat-trick ball).