Put into bat, stand-in
skipper Virat Kohli blasted India to 311/7 in 50 overs with a terrific
102 off 83 balls against which the hosts could only manage 171 in 34
overs after the target was revised to 274 from 39 overs due to a long
rain delay during the West Indies innings.
The hosts still lead
the standings with nine points while Sri Lanka and India are both tied
on five each, with India bagging four points for winning and one bonus
point Friday. However, Sri Lanka have a better net run rate which keeps
them second in the table.
Rohit Sharma (46) and Shikhar Dhawan
(69) provided India with a solid start as they struck a 123-run opening
wicket partnership. The duo laid the foundation hitting the Windies
bowlers for 13 boundaries and two sixes together before the left-handed
Dhawan was caught at deep square leg, which started a middle-order
batting collapse.
Sharma also got out soon and was followed by
Suresh Raina (10), Dinesh Karthik (6), Murali Vijay (27) and Ravindra
Jadeja (2), none of whom could capitalise on the start.
The West Indies bowlers, smelling blood, also capitalised on the chance by bringing down the run rate.
However, leading his country for the second time, Kohli stuck to his ground and kept the scoreboard ticking.
After
Jadeja got out with the score 221/6 in the 42nd over, in came
Ravichandran Ashwin who provided excellent support to his captain and
the pair took India out from a spot of bother to a 300-par score.
Kohli
and Ashwin struck a 90-run seventh wicket partnership off just 50 balls
to power India to 311. In the process, Delhi boy Kohli scored his 14th
One-Day International (ODI) ton which included 13 boundaries and two
sixes.
Tino Best scalped two wickets while Kemar Roach, Dwayne Bravo, Marlon Samuels and Kieron Pollard chipped in with a wicket each.
In reply, the hosts never took off as their explosive opener Chris Gayle was caught behind cheaply for 10 runs.
Left hand bat Darren Bravo (1) also got caught in first slip before rain stopped play with the score at 56/2 in 10 overs.
After
the delay and with a revised target, opener Johnson Charles (45) looked
to lead the chase but, first lost partners and then got out himself.
The
rain had also changed the dynamics of the pitch and the Indian bowlers
chanced upon it to regularly clinch Windies wickets, so much so that the
hosts were six down before they even reached 100.
The middle-order completely collapsed with only skipper Dywane Bravo (14) getting double figures.
However
from 113/8, Kemar Roach (34) and Sunil Narine (21) knocked a few lusty
blows to try and deny India the bonus point, scoring 58 runs for the
eighth wicket before Jadeja took the last two scalps to seal the deal
for India.
Indian pacers Bhuvneshwar Kumar (3/29), Umesh Yadav
(3/32) and Ishant Sharma (2/30) were in their elements as they not only
took wickets frequently, they were also quite economical.
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