India vs West Indies 2018: Rohit Sharma's record-breaking knock seals series win
Riding on stand-in skipper Rohit Sharma's record-breaking century, India crushed West Indies by 71 runs in the second T20I played at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekanta Stadium in Lucknow. It was a dominant performance by the hosts who outplayed the visitors in all departments.
West Indies captain Carlos Brathwaite won the toss and decided to field first. Indian openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan started the innings slowly in the first three overs. They gradually raised the run-rate by taking on the visiting bowlers.
At the end of the first six overs, India were at 49 for no loss. After the Power Play overs, it was a great display of stroke-play by Rohit and Dhawan. The right-hander reached his half-century off just 38 balls.
Dhawan was dismissed for 43 off 41 balls. Both openers added 123 runs for the opening wicket in 14 overs. KL Rahul's unbeaten cameo of 26 from 14 balls added to West Indies' woes. Rohit reached his record breaking 4th T20I century in the last over and remained not out on 111 off 61 balls. The right-handed duo added unbeaten 62 runs for the third wicket. India posted a massive total of 195 for the loss of two wickets.
Chasing 196 runs to win, West Indies lost wickets at regular intervals right from the start. Khaleel Ahmed picked up the wickets of Shai Hope and Shimron Hetmyer. At the end of six overs, they were at 39/2.
After the Power Play overs came to an end, the Indian bowlers did not allow the West Indies batsmen to score runs easily and piled pressure regularly. West Indies finished with 124/9. Darren Bravo's 23 was the top score for the visitors. India won the match by 71 runs to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the 3-match series.
Brief Scores: India - 195/2 in 20 overs (Rohit Sharma 111*, Shikhar Dhawan 43, Fabien Allen 1/33) beat West Indies 124/9 in 20 overs (Darren Bravo 23, Keemo Paul 20, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2/12, Jasprit Bumrah 2/20) by 71 runs