Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina powered India to beat West Indies in the 2nd match of the series by 48 runs on Saturday. Mohammad Shami and Ravindra Jadeja stole the show with the ball.
The West Indian chase began with Darren Bravo and Dwayne Smith opening the account. The first five overs were very cautious, with the score being 19/0. They got past the first 10 overs without putting themselves into trouble, slowing the scoring rate, but keeping the wickets intact. The visitors were on 57/0 at the end of the 10 overs, with Bravo and Smith going strong. The first Windies scalp to tumble was that of Bravo, who was clean bowled by Mohammed Shami for 26 in the 14th over. This brought Kieron Pollard into the middle, who guided the team to 89/1 in 20 overs.
Soon Smith reached his half century, a patiently crafted one at that, with some boundaries beginning to appear incessantly. At the end of the 25th over, the score was 111/1. Mishra’s disastrous run continued, with the Windies taking him beyond the boundary. However, a rare moment of Indian celebrations occurred when he got Pollard for 40 in the 29th over. The score was 136/2.
In-form Samuels was the next man in and without much ado, he gave Smith the confidence to take on the Indian bowling attack, especially Kohli. Mishra continued a tight spell on the other hand with two consecutive maidens. At the end of the 35th over, the hosts were far behind on 162/2. The 36th over saw the departure of Smith, who was dismissed painfully close to his century on 97, taken by Mohammad Shami right at the beginning of the batting powerplay. Ramdev joined the proceedings, but Samuels fell soon on the 40th over for 16, taken by Yadav, followed by yet another wicket in the form of Ramdin taken by Mishra, reducing the score to 190/5 in 41 overs, the required run rate climbing to 8.
New men Russell and Sammy fell in quick succession taken by Jadeja in the 42nd over and by now, the visitors were in serious trouble on 199/7. The 8th wicket to fall was that of Dwayne Bravo, who was taken by Shami for 10, quickly followed by the 9th one claimed by Jadeja in the form of Taylor, bringing the score to 208/9 in 45 overs. The last man to fall was Rampaul and his fall wrapped up the Windies innings at 215.
Earlier, the Indians won the toss and elected to bat first. While the Windies team remained unchanged, Umesh Yadav and Amit Mishra were in. Ajinkya Rahane and Shikhar Dhawan opened the proceedings for the home side, facing the first over by Rampaul without much success. All they managed was 1 run, after which Jerome Taylor had his first high-five moment in the match, removing Dhawan for 1 in the second over.
Rayudu was the new man in and he began attacking from the word go, taking India to 16/1 in the first five overs. After 1 fiery over, the rest of it was a slump, the duo managing to stretch the score to 37/1 at the end of the first 10 overs. The lid on the scoring rate got on to Rahane’s nerves as frustration got the better of him, gifting a soft catch to Bravo in the covers, dismissed by Sammy in the 13th over for 12. With Kohli joining the action the score was 6/2 in 15 overs. Just when Kohli began to freeze arms and search for the big ones, Ambati Rayudu departed in the 18th over dismissed by Benn for 32. Raina and Kohli got together and took the score to 118/3 at the end of 25 overs. Although the run rate was poor, yet, there was no casualty in the next five overs, the score reaching 137/3 at the end of the 30th over. The duo switch on to measured aggression in the next five overs, taking the score to 163/3. However, Raina departed in the 37th over, taken by Taylor for 62 off 60 balls.
This brought skipper Dhoni to the middle and the duo kept the scoreboard ticking, quickly taking the figures to 192/4 at the end of the 40th over. However, the speed breakers were introduced by Rampaul, who claimed Kohli for 62 in the 41st over, leaving it to Jadeja and Dhoni to take the team to a decent total. Jadeja fell in the 46th over for 6, taken by Taylor, bringing Bhuvaneshwar Kumar into the middle, but he didn’t last too long, as he fell in the 49th over, taken by Bhavo for 18. In the end, it was Dhoni (51), who scored the last few runs to take India to 263/7.
Â