Pant makes a point with Iyer
FIRST ODI Pair hits fifties and raises century stand in India’s 287/8 after Sharma, Kohli fall cheaply against West Indies
CHENNAI: His talent never in doubt, Rishabh Pant showed the temperament needed to succeed in i nternational white ball cricket by scoring his first halfcentury in One-day Internationals. Sunday’s i nnings of 71 couldn’t have come at a more opportune time, in terms of Pant’s career and in the context of where India were headed after Sheldon Cottrell had scalped two wickets—including that of Virat Kohli—in the innings’ seventh over.
By t he 1 9 t h o v e r , Rohi t Sharma too had gone, all Indian wickets falling to lack of pace from West Indies fast bowlers. Alzarri Joseph had just finished a wicket maiden, and for all the surprise Kohli had shown at the toss, Kieron Pollard’s decision to field first looked right.
Pant and Shreyas Iyer knuckled down on a surface that looked sticky from the first ball which Sharma had shaped to pull Jason Holder and ended up playing early.
At 80/3 and run machines Sharma and Kohli gone, the innings needed rebuilding in the face of disciplined bowling and some smart field placements from Pollard, which meant India had to graft for runs.
That Iyer would glue the innings was not surprising—he got to his third successive ODI half-century, all against West Indies. Batting at No. 4—the slot that has been a spot of bother for India and having come in at the end of the seventh over—iyer played along the ground, ran well between wickets and eschewed risk.
There was a phase in the India innings—between 14.4 and 23.5 overs—when they didn’t hit a boundary. Both came from Iyer and off-spinners—the first an attempted steer off Hayden Walsh Jr that flew through the vacant slip region and the next a cut off Roston Chase.
CONTROLLED IYER
Iyer didn’t hit a ball in the air till his first six, off Chase, and it came off the 76th ball he faced. Soon after, Cottrell strayed down the leg and Iyer whipped him for four.
It was again the lack of pace that fetched West Indies Iyer’s wicket but by then he and Pant