The Independent Voice of West Indies Cricket

Windies outface Kohli hundred in series-levelling win

Sat, Oct 27, '18

 

Windies v India

It's not always sunny in Philadelphia. That India never lose a run-chase when Virat Kohli scores a hundred is an expired gospel now. Set 284, thanks to an inspired Windies batting showdown against the likes of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah, even Kohli's 38th ODI century couldn't offset a middle-order meltdown India's camouflaged so efficiently in recent times.

Windies's win over India by 43 runs at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune on Saturday (October 27) means that the series, where India were expected to ride roughshod over Windies, now stands level at 1-1.

India's loss is outrageous not because it transpired at home and/or came against Windies, the ninth-ranked ODI side in the world; what bites is India falling short despite a hundred from Kohli, and after their two first-choice pace bowlers in Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar, and their two first-choice spinners in Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal had restricted Windies to 284 - a total that certainly looked below par, given India opted to chase, ruling out an up-and-down pitch in favour of dew. And terminally so, in hindsight.

Spoilt by how their top-three bail them out ten out of ten times, India found themselves on foreign shores after Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan were dismissed before India had hundred on the board. While Jason Holder got rid of Rohit with a peach of a delivery in the second over of the chase, Dhawan's plight was largely self-inflicted. Ashley Nurse accounted for the left-hander for the third time in ODIs - the most a spinner has gotten him in this format - pinning him in front after he failed to execute a sweep shot in the 18th over of the chase, leaving India two down for 88 runs.