Visakhapatnam : The West Indies beat India by two wickets in a thrilling finish in the second of the three One-Day Internationals (ODI) at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium here Sunday to level the series 1-1.
India scored 288/5 from their 50 overs after being put in to bat and the West Indies chased down the total with three balls to spare.
The visitors did not get off to a good start, losing two wickets – Johnson Charles (12) and Marlon Samuels (8) – in the first six overs with the score only at 23.
But opener Kieran Powell (59) and Darren Bravo (50) put together an important 100-run partnership for the third wicket to put the Windies’ chase back on track.
The Caribbean side lost a few wickets in the middle overs but another good 82-run partnership continued their chase against the climbing run rate. Lendl Simmons (62) and Darren Sammy (63 not out) took the Windies from 185/5 to 267/6.
However, two quick wickets in the death overs poised the match for an exciting finish but Sammy made sure the visitors reached the target.
Medium pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, offie Ravichandran Ashwin and Mohammed Shami scalped two wickets each while Mohit Sharma took one.
Earlier, India put together a healthy total of 288/5 with dashing batsman Virat Kohli falling one short of another hundred.
Kohli played the anchor’s innings scoring nine boundaries in his 100-ball knock. He was well supported by left handed opener Shikhar Dhawan (35) after the fall of opener Rohit Sharma (12) in the fifth over.
Middle order batsmen Yuvraj Singh (28) and Suresh Raina (23) chipped in to support Kohli in the middle overs to take India par the 200 mark.
After Kohli fell, being caught at long leg attempting a hook, Mahendra Singh Dhoni played a captain’s knock to take India close to 300. Dhoni made 51 off 40 balls which included three boundaries and four sixes.
Ravi Rampaul was the pick of the bowlers for the visitors picking up his seventh four-wicket haul. Jason Holder, Veerasammy Permaul and Sammy clinched a wicket each.
The third and the final match will be held at Green Park, Kanpur Wednesday.
India Team : RG Sharma, S Dhawan, V Kohli, SK Raina, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni, RA Jadeja, R Ashwin, B Kumar, Shami Ahmed, MM Sharma
West Indies Team : KOA Powell, Johnson Charles, MN Samuels, DM Bravo, LMP Simmons, DJ Bravo, DJG Sammy, JO Holder, SP Narine, Veerasammy Permaul, R Rampaul,
Match Details
Umpires: VA Kulkarni and RJ Tucker
TV umpire: AK Chaudhary
Match referee: ; DC Boon
Reserve Umpire: NA Patwardhan