After that washed out 1st ODI, everyone was eagerly waiting for the 2nd ODI to begin and there was rain around the corner yesterday as well, with the toss being delayed for over an hour. Overs began getting cut and good news came along as a 43-over game was ready to be played, provided there were no more rain disturbances.
West Indies won the toss and elected to field first as both teams went in with unchanged sides. The broadcasters were just showing us a stat of how the Indian opening stand has averaged 61+ in 2017 ODIs and they went on to put up yet another century stand, with both of Shikhar Dhawan & Ajinkya Rahane looking good.
Dhawan was eventually dismissed for 63 and then Rahane shifted gears, hitting a couple of sixes as well and the Indian batsmen ensured that they were always scoring at above 6 runs an over. Rahane went past 100 for just the third time in his career, and then was bowled out for 103 by Miguel Cummins.
Being such a good player, it’s sad that Jinks doesn’t get the amount of chances that he deserves in the limited overs formats and when given this chance over Rohit Sharma, he has certainly made most of it, backing up his fifty in the last game.
Fireworks from the bat of Virat Kohli (87) at the end of the innings got India up to a challenging total of 310/5, leaving West Indies with a mountain to climb. Bhuvneshwar Kumar made things worse for the hosts as he struck twice in his first 2 overs, reducing them to 4/2 early on.
Wicket-keeper batsman Shai Hope has had a promising short career so far, with one century and his 2nd ODI fifty scored yesterday. He was the only West Indian batsman who looked comfortable at the crease, constantly taking the attack to thee Indian bowlers, especially the spinners.
However, the spinners had the last laugh as Kuldeep Yadav dismissed Hope for 81. Kuldeep was playing just his 2nd ODI but it was the first time he was bowling in an ODI and he ended with returns of 3/50 – what a great start to his international career.
The hosts only managed 205/6 in their 43 overs and India cruised to a 105-run victory and took a 1-0 lead in this ODI series; the Man of the Match award was given to Ajinkya Rahane. We at Read Scoops expect similar results and easy Indian wins over the rest of this tour!
