Rohit Sharma, K.L. Rahul led with centuries while Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant unleashed an astonishing late assault as India posted a mammoth 387/5 against West Indies in the second ODI at the VDCA Stadium in Visakhapatnam on Wednesday.
Rohit hit a magnificent 159 and Rahul made 102 as they put up an opening stand of 227 runs. After Indian captain Virat Kohli was dismissed for a rare golden duck, Pant and Iyer put up a 73-run stand for the fourth wicket off just 25 balls.
Earlier, West Indies won the toss and chose to field first in Visakhapatnam. Rahul and Rohit took their time in constructing their innings, scoring just 55 runs in the first 10 overs. They played cautiously in the first 15 overs and a mix-up almost got Rohit out at the non-striker’s end.
But all that changed soon as the pair started teeing off after the first 20 overs with Rahul hitting consecutive fours off Alzarri Joseph in the 21st which produced 14 runs. Rohit raised his 43rd fifty off the last ball of the next over. Rahul was quicker than him in getting there, doing so in the 16th over.
However, Rohit ended up overtaking him on the way to their respective centuries. He was dropped on 70 by Shimron Hetmyer as the latter failed to pocket a simple catch at long-on.
Rohit reached his hundred in the 34th over while Rahul reached there two overs later. The pair started to try and up the ante after crossing three figures and Rahul fell in the process. He was dismissed in the same over as he scored his ton, with Joseph forcing an edge off the right hander and third man taking the catch off the last ball of the over. Rahul walked back for a well-made 102.
Rohit hit a four off the very next ball and took a single to bring Kohli on strike. West Indies captain Kieron Pollard, bowling for the first time in the day, sent in a short, slow ball outside off that took the top edge of Kohli’s bat. It went straight down the throat of the short mid-wicket and Kohli was dismissed off the very first ball he faced. Pollard would bowl only one more over in the match.
Rohit kept pushing on and soon raised his 150. It looked like he was primed for making a record extending fourth double ODI ton but ended up falling to Sheldon Cottrell in the 44th over on 159.
That was only the start of the pain for West Indies however as Pant came in and made his intentions clear with a six off the second ball he faced. He hit another six two balls later and then a single to take strike as Cottrell came back for the 46th over.
Pant hit two sixes and three fours in that over, thus taking 24 runs off it. Iyer gave Roston Chase an even worse pasting in the next, smashing four sixes and a four. 31 runs were scored off the 47th.
Pant was dismissed in the next over and Iyer after that while Kedar Jadhav hit three fours off the last one as India just failed to cross the 400-run mark.
Brief Scores: India 387/5 (Rohit Sharma 159, KL Rahul 102; Sheldon Cottrell 2/83)
