Port of Spain, West Indies halted India’s progress at the back end of the innings to restrict the visitors to 279/7 in the second ODI here on Sunday.
India were buoyed by captain Virat Kohli’s 42nd ODI hundred and his 125-run stand with Shreyas Iyer (71) for most of the innings. However, West Indies managed to pick up quick wickets after their dismissal to ensure that India didn’t cross the 300-run mark.
India batted first after winning the toss, going 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 accumalating 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 runscorer 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.
Kohli was eventually dismissed for 120 (125 balls, 4×14, 6×1) by Carlos Brathwaite in the 42nd over when his mistimed shot went straight down the throat of Kemar Roach at long-off.
Iyer (71; 68 balls, 4×5, 6×1) looked poised for a maiden ODI ton but fell to Windies skipper Jason Holder in the 46th over.
Brief scores: India 279/7 in 50 overs (Virat Kohli 120, Shreyas Iyer 71; Carlos Brathwaite 3/53) vs West Indies
