Kohli, Rohit slam tons, crush Windies with record stand
Hetymer’s 106 in vain as India skipper and deputy raise 246 runs to seal eightwicket victory
GUWAHATI: West Indies for once saw hope on the horizon on this tour in two 21-year-olds, but Virat Kohli belted boundaries on way to 140 off 107 balls and Rohit Sharma top-scored with 152 not out, taking India to an eightwicket win in the first ODI at the Bhupen Hazarika Stadium on Sunday.
The India skipper’s 36th career ODI century, 22nd while batting second with 20 coming in wins, reasserted his status as the best batsman to orchestrate a chase.
Kohli’s 246-run partnership in 30 overs with deputy Rohit for the second wicket did not allow West Indies a moment of respite as they played some exquisite strokes.
Windies got an early boost with 21-year-old Shimron Hetmyer scoring 106 off 78 balls to help reach 322 after being asked to bat first. Oshane Thomas, 21, provided jitters with the new ball by scalping Shikhar Dhawan through express pace that was touching the high 140s on most occasions, reducing India to 10 for one.
All that came to nought when Kohli strode in and used the pace to place the ball in vacant areas. He took on the young West Indies bowler, as India extracted 36 runs off his first four overs.
WRISTY ELEGANCE
His wristwork was top-notch with his most productive shot being the flick, which earned him more than one-third of his runs. He raced to his half-century off 35 balls to take the wind out of the Windies’ sails. By the time he was on 78, Rohit had reached 35 and India were on course.
The No 3 batsman reached his century off 88 balls before Rohit began matching him stroke for stroke. West Indies tried their spinners but with no turn in the wicket just like no movement, they fell flat.
Kohli was out stumped just after Rohit reached his 20th century, but by then the game had
been sealed. Such was India’s dominance that they overhauled the target in just 42.1 overs.
It was Hetmyer’s third ODI hundred in just his 13th game that saw the Windies put up a 300-plus total. Apart from Hetmyer, Keiran Powell scored 51 off 39 at the top while Shai Hope and skipper Jason Holder got crucial 30s.
India went in with three pace bowlers with all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and Yuzvendra Chahal being the two spinners. The decision to leave out wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav didn’t really pay off as the seamers, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav and
rookie Khaleel Ahmed, were milked for 209 runs in their 30 overs. Shami was the most expensive, conceding 81 runs in 10 overs for two wickets.
West Indies would have scored Umesh 10-0-64-0, Khaleel 10-0-64-1, Chahal 10-0-41-3, Jadeja 10-0-66-2 close to 350, had some of their batsmen not thrown their wickets away. Hetmyer though stayed at the crease and picked the right deliveries. The left-handed batsman hit six sixes and six fours.