India vs West Indies 2019, 2nd ODI: 3 talking points from the Men in Blue's win
India have leveled the ODI series 1-1, after beating the West Indies by a huge 107 runs in Visakhapatnam. Kieron Pollard, the West Indies captain, won the toss and decided to bowl first on a good batting wicket which was expected to get better under lights owing to the due factor.
India, unlike the first ODI, made a terrific start as Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul stitched together a 227-run partnership, which was broken when Rahul got dismissed for a well-played 102 of 104 balls.
After that, Virat Kohli was dismissed on a golden duck, but the Indian vice-captain made sure that India's momentum doesn't die down as he was dismissed for a mammoth 159 runs of 138 balls. Then, Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer propelled the hosts to a huge 387 runs for the loss of 5 wickets, at the end of the first innings.
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West Indies were always behind in the game but at one moment, they were 192 for 3 during the 29th over. Shai Hope and Nicolas Pooran gave the visitors some hope, but they continuously lost wickets towards the end and were bowled out for 280. Hope and Pooran got 78 and 75 runs respectively.
Here, we are going to take a look at the three talking points from India's big win over the Windies.
#3 Mohammed Shami and Kuldeep Yadav's spell in the middle overs changed the game
As mentioned above, chasing 388 was never going to be easy for the West Indies but the visitors were not going down without a fight. After a great opening partnership between Evin Lewis and Shai Hope of 61 runs, the Windies started losing wickets and found themselves 3 down for a mere 86 at the end of the 16th over.
But then Nicolas Pooran's positive mindset gave Virat Kohli and his Indian team a little headache. West Indies were scoring at a quick rate and it looked like Hope and Pooran will take the game away from the hosts.
That's where Mohammed Shami's two quick wickets and Kuldeep Yadav's hat-trick changed the game. Shami dismissed both Pooran and Kieron Pollard on consecutive balls, while Yadav picked up Shai Hope, Jason Holder, and Alzarri Joseph. Those five quick wickets in the middle overs brought shifted the balance towards India again.
