Sharma, Rahul and Yadav level series for India
Centuries from Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul was followed by a hattrick from Kuldeep Yadav as India emphatically levelled the three-ODI series against West Indies with a thumping 107-run win over West Indies in the second ODI in Visakhapatnam yesterday.
An opening stand of 227 between Sharma and Rahul formed the basis for a massive total of 387 for five, a target that West Indies found too hot to handle, especially after left-arm chinaman bowler Yadav dismissed Shai Hope, skipper Jason Holder and Alzarri Joseph in consecutive deliveries in the 33rd over.
West Indies had reached 192 for three in the 30th over with Hope scoring 78 off 85 balls and Nicholas Pooran blazing a 47-ball 75. But Pooran was caught off Mohammad Shami and then Yadav broke West Indies by becoming the first Indian bowler to take two international hattricks.
From 210 for eight, Keemo Paul reduced the margin of defeat with 45 before the tourists were bowled out for 280 in 43.3 overs.
Earlier, Sharma led the onslaught with 159 off 138 balls with 17 fours and five sixes, while Rahul made 102.
Shreyas Iyer tore into the West Indies attack with a 32-ball 53 as he hit Roston Chase for 31 runs -- including four sixes and one four -- in the 47th over.
He shared in a 73-run fourth-wicket stand with wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant, who hit 39 off 16 deliveries.
After a slow start, Sharma soon overtook his partner, who had raised his fifty in 46 balls, and went on to complete his 28th ODI hundred. Rahul recorded his third ODI hundred with a boundary off Joseph, but lost his wicket to the paceman four balls later when mistiming a shot to third man.
Nicknamed the Hitman, Sharma registered his eighth score of 150 plus before edging an incoming delivery from paceman Sheldon Cottrell to wicketkeeper Shai Hope.
SCORES IN BRIEF
INDIA: 387 for 5 (Sharma 159, Rahul 102, Iyer 53; Cottrell 2-83, Pollard 1-20)
WEST INDIES: 280 all out in 43.3 overs (Hope 78, Pooran 75, Paul 45; Yadav 3-52, Shami 2-39)
Result: India won by 107 runs
Player-of-the-match: Rohit Sharma
