Disappointed not to pull it off, says Hope
VISAKHAPATNAM: While he felt proud of his innings and milestone, India skipper Virat Kohli said he was content with the tie after West Indies had threatened to run away with the second ODI here.
“We had a challenge in front of us today and luckily we got away with a tie and we’ll take that at the end of the day. West Indies showed great fight especially after being three down .... I am pretty proud of my innings and milestone,” he said after the match.
Kohli was named Man-of-theMatch for his unbeaten 157 that saw India through to 321.
“Everyone was of the opinion we should bat first because it was hot and humid and also in the big games, in World Cups, you might have to put runs on the board and defend.”
West Indies skipper Jason Holder lavished praise on Shai Hope and Shimron Hetmyer but felt they should have won the game. “What made the difference was the run out of myself and the wicket of Hetmyer as well, he was the set batsman, they were getting runs easy,” said Holder. “We said at the beginning of the innings that one of our top four had to go on and bat till the end. Good on Shai to do that. India got a par score. Before coming here, we knew we should be hitting that mark over and over.”
Windies centurion Shai Hope, who remained unbeaten on 123, was disappointed after not being able to see the team through.
“We worked very hard today. We lost wickets at crucial stages. We lost Jason late. But that’s the key, when the game gets tight. We needed to keep wickets in hand. The pitch was good. It came on with the new ball and it spun for both teams. We came here to win, we didn’t come here to complete. Just a bit disappointed. [Plans in the last couple of overs] I was trying to get bat on ball, try to hit the gaps, get as close as possible.”