India vs Windies, 2nd ODI Review: The hosts look on as the visitors almost pull off an upset

After being humiliated by a huge loss in the first ODI, the Windies got back strong in the second game. They upped their game several notches to register one of their finest performances in the recent times. Virat Kohli and his men were left stunned after this scintillating performance from the visitors.

The pendulum kept swinging between both the teams throughout the second innings. It left the fans on the edge of their seats and there weren’t any nails left as the game ended. Ultimately, the match ended in a draw giving India a sigh of relief. 321 doesn’t seem to be a lucky score for India as they haven’t even won once after putting that score up on the previous three occasions. A loss here would have left a mesmerising knock from Virat Kohli completely in vain.

Virat Kohli lights up the first innings

India, after having won the toss and electing to bat first, suffered a body blow early in the innings. They lost the in-form opener Rohit Sharma for 4 runs. Soon, his partner Shikhar Dhawan followed him into the hut after getting out for 29 runs. As Ambati Rayudu walked in at number four in the ninth over, India was 40/2 with Virat Kohli partnering him in the centre.

These two, on a track which wasn’t easy to bat on and in conditions which were exhaustive, put up a brilliant partnership. They played some glorious shots on both the sides of the wicket 139 runs together. After having got to his half-century, Rayudu seemed to have got fatigued and shifted gears. He quickly added a few runs and was looking to go after the bowlers before Ashley Nurse cleaned him up.

It was then MS Dhoni who joined hands with Virat Kohli. The Indian skipper by then crossed his half-century and was looking dangerous. After a long time, we’ve witnessed Dhoni showing some intent to score runs early in his innings instead of eating up balls. He was pro-active, rotated the strike regularly and also got a massive blow that travelled a long distance. It was when this partnership was budding that Kohli got to 10k ODI runs with a single.

But then, Dhoni was out bowled after a beautifully disguised slower ball from Obed McCoy. Rishabh Pant, in his first ODI innings, tried to go aggressive but was dismissed for 17 runs. Virat Kohli got to his 37th ODI century as soon as Pant got out and then unleashed the beast out of him. He was unbeaten on 157 with his innings including 13 fours and 4 sixes and broke quite a few records on the way. India ended their innings at 321/6 after 50 overs and would have been quite content at the halfway mark.

Shai Hope, Shimron Hetmyer dictate the chase for Windies

The Windies got off to a pretty decent start in the chase. The openers added run-a-ball 36 before Kieran Powell ended up giving some catching practice to Rishabh Pant. His partner, Chandrapaul Hetmyer walked back to the pavilion after getting 32 off 24. While many expected this to be a cakewalk for India after Marlon Samuels was dismissed for 13, Shimron Hetmyer and Shai Hope had other ideas.

The duo got out a counterattack to the Indian bowlers and left the crowd in some awkward silence. While Hetmyer was the aggressor in the partnership, Hope was slowly ambling along and was spectacular. These two, at stages, got the better of the required run rate and were scoring at almost seven runs every over. Combining composure with aggression, they added 143 runs for the fourth wicket.

Just as this partnership was going from strength to strength, Chahal got the better of Hetmyer. He got out for 94 runs and missed out on a very well-deserved consecutive century. Soon, the Rovman Powell was dismissed by Kuldeep to open the game up. With skipper Jason Holder coming in at a critical time and eating up a lot of deliveries, India was really back into the contest.

However, Shai Hope stood firm at one end and didn’t let things go out of control. The wicket-keeper batsman registered his second ODI century under immense pressure. He occupied most of the strike while Holder struggled at the other end. The skipper ate up 23 balls before he was run out on 12. Hope remained unbeaten till the end with 123 runs. He hit a boundary off the last ball of the innings to help his team draw the game but he would have been extremely disappointed not a pull off a win.

Brief Scores

India: 321/6 in 50 overs (Virat Kohli 157*, Ambati Rayudu 73, Ashley Nurse 2/46)

Windies: 321/7 in 50 overs (Shai Hope 123*, Shimron Hetmyer 94, Kuldeep Yadav 3/67)

Result: Match tied; India lead the series 1-0.

Man of the Match: Virat Kohli

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