India vs West Indies, 2018: Five unnoticed things from the second ODI

In a stunning spectacle played out at Visakhapatnam where no team emerged out as a clear winner or a loser, both the teams fought with all their might. Shai Hope leads the Windies chase and was on strike for the last ball where the visitors needed five runs to win. Facing Umesh Yadav, Hope punched the final ball for a boundary and equalled the scores, hence resulting in a tied game.

India won the toss and decided to bat first on the Vizag track. After losing the successful openers, the responsibility of run-scoring fell on the shoulders of Virat Kohli and the middle order. Rayudu stood firmly in support of the captain and the duo carried India out of danger. Once Pant and Dhoni fell cheaply, Kohli stepped up with his attacking game and scored a magnificent 157 not out from 129 balls to take the team total to 321/6.

In reply, Windies openers provided a brisk start with Kieron Powell and C Hemraj firing all guns. Kuldeep Yadav brought India back into the game with two quick wickets but it was not enough. Centurion from the previous game, Shimron Hetmyer launched another ferocious attack and Shai Hope continued accumulating runs from the other end. WI needed 14 runs from the last over of Umesh Yadav, they eventually managed to equal the score and script a tie.

Here are five things that may have gone unnoticed from tonight’s thrilling game

#1 Windies’ Vizag connection

Today’s ODI was Windies’ third match at this ground. They were the only successful opposition so far which managed to defeat the hosts at this place. Even confronting an uphill task of chasing 322 runs against the mighty Indian team, WI chased with all their power and almost pulled off a miraculous win.

India had played six ODIs at this venue of Visakhapatnam before today’s game. The home team won four matches out of these while one was cancelled. India suffered only one loss at this ground prior to this match and it came against the same opponent as that of today, Windies.

In 2013 tour of India, Windies played their 2nd ODI at this venue of Vizag. India with an inning of 99 from Virat Kohli and a quick-fire 51 from MS Dhoni raised the total of 288/7 while batting first. As many as four WI batsmen struck half-centuries and with a brilliant 63 off 45 balls from Daren Sammy, the visitors won the match with two wickets remaining.

#2 Kuldeep Yadav’s comeback

India’s defence of 322 runs depended on the shoulders of the chinaman bowler today. Kuldeep Yadav, spinning his web of leg-spin and googlies was the major weapon that Kohli possessed against the Windies batting lineup. Responding duly, the left-arm wrist spinner picked up three wickets ending as the highest wicket-taker in the match.

The fact which may have gone unnoticed is that the lead spinner was dropped in the first ODI of the series. India wanted to test the backup seamer options and played with all three pace bowlers in Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, and Khaleel Ahmed. While Chahal picked three wickets, Kuldeep was sorely missed from the bowling attack.

Tonight, Kuldeep displayed why he was a must-pick in the team. Bowling the tenth over, the leggie castled opener Hemraj with a well-disguised googly. After conceding three boundaries, Yadav bamboozled Marlon Samuels and later dismissed Rovman Powell to complete the three-wicket haul.

#3 Ambati Rayudu strengthens his case for the World Cup

India in the first innings, with the magnificent inning of 157 from Virat Kohli, reached the tall total of 321/6 in 50 overs. While the Indian captain rightly hogged all the limelight for a spectacular knock, there was another inning which was very important in setting the base for such a total.

The hosts choosing to bat first lost both their in-form openers earlier than usual. With Shikhar Dhawan out LBW, India found themselves at 40/2 in 8.4 overs and required its much-discussed middle order to stand up and support Virat Kohli. Batting at number four, Ambati Rayudu did just that.

The Hyderabadi batsman rotated the strike early in his innings and struck boundaries when the opportunities appeared. Playing his hand in the 139-run partnership with Captain Kohli, Rayudu scored 73 from 80 balls with eight boundaries. The knock vindicates the belief that Virat has shown in Rayudu and takes India one step closer to solving the middle order puzzle.

#4 Debutant Obed McCoy captures the prized wicket of MS Dhoni

Windies fielded another ODI debutant today as they replaced Oshane Thomas from last game with Obed McCoy. The 21-year old left-arm medium pace bowler from the Windward Islands impressed the selectors with his performances for St Lucia Stars in the CPL T20 Season of 2018.

Oshane Thomas proved quite expensive in the first ODI at Guwahati and thus Windies opted to include the fresh seamer in Obed McCoy. The left-arm pace bowler was introduced in the 19th over and began well. In his third over, he almost dismissed Virat Kohli who was batting on 44 at that stage. Captain Jason Holder failed to complete the catch while running backwards.

It was 41st over of the Indian innings that brought the glory for McCoy. His well-disguised slower one went through the defences of MS Dhoni and castled the great man. The debutant rejoiced to dismiss the legend as his first wicket. He later removed Ravindra Jadeja as well and finished with the figures of 71/2 in his nine overs.

#5 Virat Kohli scores 4000 runs at home

India’s ODI mega star Virat Kohli seems to be breaking a new record with every fifty runs that he scores. In the duration of his exhilarating knock of 157 today, Kohli broke and established heaps of ODI records. The most notable was, of course, him scoring 10,000 runs in ODIs in only 205 innings thus becoming the fastest batsman to achieve the feat.

There were plenty other records that India’s captain went past, most were brought to the attention of the Indian cricket fans, however, a few escaped. Kohli during his knock completed 4,000 ODI runs at home and became only the third Indian batsman to achieve the milestone. Sachin Tendulkar leads the tally with 6,976 runs while MS Dhoni has scored 4390 runs on the Indian soil.

As we can expect, Virat is the fastest to score 4,000 runs at home. He has scored these many runs in only 78 innings while Sachin Tendulkar needed 92 innings to reach the landmark. MS Dhoni completed the same record in his first 99 innings.