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Rediff.com  » Cricket » India thump WI by seven wickets, lead series 2-0

India thump WI by seven wickets, lead series 2-0

Source: PTI
Last updated on: June 09, 2011 09:12 IST
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- Scorecard:

A splendid 81 by Virat Kohli ensured India a comfortable seven-wicket win over the West Indies in a rain-affected second One-Day International in Port of Spain (Trinidad) on Wednesday.

The victory helped the visitors take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series going into the third one-dayer in Antigua on Saturday.

India had won the opening match by four wickets at the same venue (Queen's Park Oval) on Monday.

Chasing a modest 241 to win, the visitors saw their target revised to 183, courtesy a rain interruption, before reaching home with 20 balls to spare.

Captain Suresh Raina, with an unbeaten 26, and Rohit Sharma (seven not out) were at the crease when the winning runs came, giving them a chance to wrap the series in Antigua in three days time.

Kohli's 103-ball knock was inclusive of six hits to the fence and one over it. When on 44, Kohli completed 2,000 ODI runs, in what was his 56th match. He became the 21st Indian batsman to achieve the feat in the 50-over format.

Kohli, who was the fastest Indian to reach the 1000-run mark in ODIs, is the second fastest to the 2000-run mark -- Navjot Singh Sidhu and Saourav Ganguly jointly hold the record for the landmark.

The 22-year-old soon recorded his 14th ODI fifty, his third against the West Indies.

With India on 100 for one after 22 overs, there was a lengthy rain delay. Play eventually resumed following two inspections and, expectedly, the Duckworth-Lewis method came into play.

It was now a curtailed match, with India chasing a revised target of 183 to win in a minimum of 37 overs, and the batting powerplay being completely done away with.

Parthiv recorded his third ODI half century shortly after resumption with a maximum over deep midwicket off Anthony Martin.

However, Martin had the last laugh, providing the hosts a much-needed breakthrough, having Parthiv (56) caught behind.

Parthiv's 64-ball knock was inclusive of two boundaries and an equal number of sixes. His dismissal brought to an end a 120-run partnership for the second wicket that came off just 24 overs and laid the foundation of the Indian innings.

Kohli and Raina put together another 45 runs (in 29 balls) for the third wicket before the former holed out to Pollard at long-off, giving young Devendra Bishoo his only wicket of the match. 

Sharma came in next, with India needing just 10 runs to win, and he and the captain ensured the visitors raced home without further blemish. 

Earlier, leg-spinner Amit Mishra returned with figures of four for 31 as India restricted the West Indies to a modest 240 for nine. 

For the hosts, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Lendl Simmons cracked individual half-centuries. All the top-order West Indies batsmen got starts but failed to convert them into a big score. The middle-order, however, performed below par, allowing the Men In Blue to come back into the match. 

Sarwan (56) shared 67 with Simmons (53) for the second wicket, and 51 runs for the third wicket with Marlon Samuels (36), to set the foundation for a big score. But Mishra's triple strike at the fag end of the innings put the brakes on their scoring rate. 

The Haryana leg-spinner removed Pollard (8) in the 42nd over, before dismissing Dwayne Bravo (0) and Carlton Baugh (2) with consecutive deliveries in the 44th over to reduce the West Indies from 192-4 to 197 for seven. 

Munaf Patel (3 for 33) then grabbed a couple -- Devendra Bishoo (0) and Ravi Rampaul (14) -- in the space of four deliveries in the 49th over to further dent the hopes of the Caribbeans.

Skipper Darren Sammy provided some momentum with his racy 19-ball 22, which included two fours and a six, as the home team finished their innings at a below-par score. 

Yusuf Pathan claimed 2 for 51.

Sent into bat after Raina won the toss and elected to field, the West Indies rode on their top-order batsmen to reach 175 for three in 36 overs but once Sarwan was dismissed the Caribbeans lost their way completely.

Mishra took four for 31 with his sharply turning leg-breaks to trigger a collapse as the West Indies lost six wickets for 48 runs in the final nine overs.

Earlier, openers Simmons and Kirk Edwards (25) provided the perfect platform with 57 runs by the 13th over as they feasted on some rugged fielding and wayward bowling. Edwards's first four flicked bowler Munaf Patel's raised hand to go to long-on fence and the next one was crashed past covers in the fourth over.

Moving into his stride, Edwards smote Praveen Kumar at the other end over mid-on, hurrying Indians to bring on leg-spinner Mishra in the eighth over. Simmons survived a caught behind in the 10th over after Munaf Patel overstepped the bowling crease. Mishra was impressive from the word go but Simmons was confident enough to sweep him for four.

Harbhajan Singh, introduced in the 12th over, had a horrid start as he either bowled too wide or too full and went for 24 runs in his first two overs. There were two deliveries which spun past leg stump and went wide for fours; then Edwards launched into a ferocious hit straight down the ground for a six.

Mishra gave Indians the first breakthrough after a sharply turning leg-break took the edge of Edwards's bat and nestled into the gloves of Parthiv. However, Simmons was unperturbed as he smacked Mishra over midwicket for a six and later dished out the same treatment to Pathan to bring up his half century in the 25th over, with the score reading 114 for one.

New man Sarwan and Simmons forged a 67-run partnership before the opener departed in the 27th over in a rather ungainly manner when he rushed down the wicket and Parthiv stumped him off a wide delivery.

Sarwan though had dropped anchor at the other end and once powerfully square cut Harbhajan to the fence and then deftly guided Munaf past vacant slips for four. 

His new partner Samuels was more aggressive, as he stylishly drove Mishra to the cover fence and then pulled Yusuf behind square leg for another four. 

In this eventful over, he smote the next ball for a six but then was fooled by a slow wide floater and stumped. 

Sarwan then brought up his 37th ODI fifty with a boundary of Praveen Kumar but the right-handed batsman gifted his wicket away, hitting a rank full toss from Munaf into the hands of the deep square leg fielder Mishra. 

With Pollard next in line, the West Indies asked for the batting powerplay at 192 for four in the 42nd overs and it turned out to be a disaster spell for them. 

Pollard survived three balls before his attempted sweep made him a leg-before candidate for naught. Bravo (8) stroked one in the deep as if to give catching practice to Harbhajan and wicketkeeper Carlton Baugh completely misjudged a googly from Mishra and was bowled. 

The West Indies scored 29 runs from the five overs of batting powerplay, losing three wickets. 

Sammy and Rampaul then freed their arms for some entertaining hits before Munaf ended the pyrotechnics of the pair with two wickets in his final over. 

Rampaul was caught in the deep and young Devendra Bishoo could only guide a rising delivery into the hands of the wicketkeeper.

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