Windies pull off thrilling tie on Kohli’s record-breaking day

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ICC
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On what was supposed to be a day all about Virat Kohli, two young West Indian batsmen threatened to steal the show as they managed to secure a memorable tie.

When Rohit Sharma cut a Kemar Roach delivery straight to Shimron Hetmyer at point on four, all eyes were on Kohli.

Normally when a batsman is 81 runs short of a landmark, there’s a feint hope that they’d reach it, but it is by no means an expectation. With Kohli today, who began his innings on 9919 ODI runs, it was an inevitability he’d reach 10,000.

Going into this match Kohli had already scored 889 ODI runs from 10 matches in 2018, and perhaps most spectacularly, averaged over 92 since the beginning of 2016. To him, a mere 81 is a mediocre day at the office.

Following the wicket of Shikhar Dhawan not too long after Sharma’s departure, Kohli had to restrain himself slightly more than he did in the first ODI. Such is the dominance of the Indian top three, the middle order are not regularly given the opportunity to show their worth. This was not the case today.

Alongside Kohli, Rayudu steadily laid the foundations for the Indian innings. The pair put on 139 runs taking their team from 40/2 to 179/3 after 32.4 overs.

Batting ahead of Rishabh Pant – a new addition to the side and a potential rival for the wicket-keeping spot for next year’s Men’s Cricket World Cup – MS Dhoni came into bat at No. 4. With just under 18 overs to go and with seven wickets in hand, he had the perfect opportunity to catapult Indian to a massive score.

Unfortunately for Dhoni and his team, he was deceived by an Obed McCoy slower ball on the youngster’s debut just as he was getting going. Windies’ pair of spin bowlers, Ashley Nurse and Devendra Bishoo bowled well in tandem to restrict the flow of runs in the middle overs which was vitally important considering the ease at which India milked runs off the pace bowlers earlier in the innings.

With the score on 222/4 in the 41st over after the Dhoni wicket, it was Kohli, the man of the hour, who provided the required impetus to take India to a score of 321. Kohli’s hundred – his 37th in ODI cricket – was the fulcrum of the innings. His unbeaten 157 off 129 was Kohli at his brilliant best, rarely in any discomfort at all. His innings took him past 10,000 ODI runs in 54 innings fewer than the next fastest to the landmark, Sachin Tendulkar.

After all the justified furore over Kohli’s individual brilliance, there was still a game to be had. Whilst 322 was an imposing target, it wasn’t totally out of Windies’ reach. Despite missing some of their more renowned players, they still have a batting order that contains the experienced Marlon Samuels and the immensely promising duo of Hetmyer and Shai Hope.

The Windies showed intent from the outset and despite losing wickets, they insisted on taking the attack to the Indian bowlers. Chandrapaul Hemraj led the way with a 24-ball 32, but with Samuels, Kieran Powell and himself falling after brisk starts the Windies were left 78/3, albeit after only 12 overs.

It was then up to Hetmyer, scorer of a century in the first ODI, and Hope to perform similar roles to those of Kohli and Rayudu earlier in the day. Hetmyer took a particular liking to Yuzvendra Chahal, depositing him for 16 runs in three balls during the 26th over. Hetmyer was in brutal form and with Hope anchoring the innings at the other end, the Windies looked in control of the run chase.

Then it all changed. Hetmyer, on 94, was handed a Chahal log-hop on a plate. In attempting to heave it to the boundary, Hetmyer inexplicably found Kohli on the deep mid-wicket boundary. Hetmyer was visibly gutted, but with his team 101 away from victory with six wickets in hand and 18 overs remaining, he would still have been confident of a series-levelling win.

Shimron Hetmyer has a spark of genius in his batting. He hits the ball *so* cleanly, and looks so comfortable doing so – but it’s not just aesthetic. Only one batsman in 2018 has faced as much spin as Hetmyer and scored more quickly than him. Unsurprisingly, it’s Kohli. #INDvWI

Windies were well ahead of the rate, but after the Hetmyer dismissal the scoring rate subsided somewhat. Rovman Powell came and went for 18, and skipper Jason Holder looked to provide the foil to let Hope take the Windies to victory from the other end.

Hope, a senior member of this West Indies side at the age of just 24, continued to accumulate runs and scored his second ODI century in the process. His was a far more sedate innings than Kohli’s and Hetmyer’s earlier efforts but he nonetheless kept Windies in the run chase throughout.

With Holder and Hope still at the crease, 22 were needed off the last three overs but Chahal held his nerve to concede just two runs and forced the messy run out of Holder. The equation was now 20 runs off the last two overs.

Shami bowled a superb penultimate over, his varying of length and speed deceiving both Hope and the new batsman Ashley Nurse. It went for six runs and suddenly, shortly after being well ahead in the chase, the Windies needed 14 from the last over.

Umesh Yadav, who had given away 71 runs from his first nine overs, was tasked with bowling the deciding one. It started well with a yorker that got Hope off strike, but he then strayed onto Nurse’s pads to give the Windies four leg byes.

Nurse was then caught on the third man boundary playing the ramp shot, but the batsmen crucially swapped leaving Hope on strike with seven needed off two balls. He scampered two off the penultimate ball and then drove the last ball, a full one wide outside off-stump, just past the fielder in the deep to secure a memorable tie.

Neither team were hugely satisfied with the result. India were a dot ball away from victory whilst the Windies will rue not taking advantage of their dominant position two-thirds of the way during the chase. If this match was anything to go by, the rest of the series should be a real treat to watch.

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