India vs Windies 2018: 2nd ODI, Visakhapatnam - Match Review

It was a thrilling finish to a thumping second ODI between India and Windies. The match went down to the wire as it ended in a tie. Windies needed five runs to win on the last ball and Shai Hope was able to get a boundary to end the match in a stalemate. Thus, Windies were finally able to bring a better contest to the table.

After winning the toss, Virat Kohli decided to bat first. The hosts were able to able to put a good score of 321 runs after the Indian captain crossed a plethora of records. Kohli scored his 37th ODI, became the fastest to scale 10,000 ODI runs, completed his 1000 ODI runs in 2018 and also became the leading run-getter against the Windies for India. Phew, this man is in a happy relationship with records.

Kohli added 139 runs for the third wicket with Ambati Rayudu who scored a good knock of 73 balls. However, Rayudu was not able to continue with his innings as he went for the wild slog.

However, Kohli unbeaten knock of 157 was almost sold down the river by the Indian bowlers. In fact, Kohli expected the conditions to be better for his bowlers. Nevertheless, India’s bowlers had to deal with dew.

On the other hand, Shimron Hetmyer continued from the same note at which he finished in Guwahati. The southpaw batsman continued his penchant of hitting the ball towards the cow corner and scored his runs in the topmost gear. The left-hander scored a blistering knock of 94 off just 64 balls. However, just like the first match, Hetmyer could not come up with finishing touches as he lost his wicket.

Meanwhile, Shai Hope who is the best batsman in the Windies line-up finally came good on the tour. Hope had been getting off to starts on this tour but had failed to convert his knocks into substantial scores. However, Hope was finally able to answer to Windies’ hope as he scored his second ODI hundred.

He held himself at one end despite losing his partners regularly. Thus, a total of 642 runs were scored in the match and we didn’t get a result. However, we saw fine knocks by Virat Kohli, Shimron Hetmyer and Shai Hope.

The third ODI will take place at Pune on 27 October.

Brief Scores: India: 321-6, Virat Kohli 157* (129), Ambati Rayudu 73 (80).

Ashley Nurse: 2-46

Windies: 321-7, Shai Hope 123 (134), Shimron Hetmyer 94 (64).

Kuldeep Yadav: 3-67.