Visakhapatnam: India produced a clinical all-round performance to beat West Indies by 107 runs in the second ODI match here at the Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium,m, leveling the three-match series by 1-1.Last time India won on home soil was on March 5th against Australia in Nagpur by 8 runs.
After putting a mammoth 387/5 on board courtesy Rohit Sharma (159) and KL Rahul (102), India bundled out West Indies for 280 to level the series. The series finale will now be played in Cuttack on December 22.
Chasing a mammoth target 388 for victory, Windies were off to a cautious start. Openers Evin Lewis and Shai Hope played some lovely strokes and took Windies to 56/0 after 10 overs.
Comeback man Shardul Thakur striked first for India as he removed the dangerous Evin Lewis with a short ball to break the 61-run opening stand. Lewis departed after scoring 30 runs from 35 deliveries, leaving Windies to 61/1 after 11 overs.
After Lewis wicket, Shimron Hetmyer joined Shai Hope at the crease. Soon after, a bullet throw from Shreyas Iyer on the boundary helped India get rid off last match's centurion Shimron Hetmyer (4) .
Windies were struggling after inform Hetmyer's wicket and needed a partnership badly, but Ravindra Jadeja (2/74) dismissed Roston Chase with a beauty of a delivery, leaving Windies to 86/3 after 16 overs.
From there on, Nicholas Pooran (75 off 47) and Shai Hope had a superb 106-run partnership for the 4th wicket in just 80 balls.
Windies were on course to chase the target but Mohammed Shami (3/39) dismissed Pooran and Kieron Pollard in two consecutive balls which ultimately proved to be the turning point in the chase.
In the 33rd over of the innings, Kuldeep (3/52) ended West Indies' hopes as he claimed his 2nd ODI hat-trick removing Hope (78 off 85) , Jason Holder (11) and Alzarri Joseph (0) off the 4th, 5th and 6th balls.
In the end, Keemo Paul's 46 off 42 and Khary Pierre's 21 off 18 wasn't enough as India beat Windies by a big margin.(UNI)
