VISAKHAPATNAM, Oct 24: Shai Hope led a gallant chase as the West Indies played a tie against India at the Dr YSR ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium here today.
Hope (123 n.o.) and Shimron Hetmyer (94) were the major contributors for the visitors while chasing a competitive 322 for victory.
Earlier, a record-shattering Virat Kohli became the quickest to reach 10,000 ODI runs on his way to slamming yet another century as India notched up a competitive 321 for six.
Kohli fired 157 off 129 balls, while Ambati Rayudu, who is seen as the answer to the team�s persistent problems at the number four slot by none other than the Indian captain himself, made a fluent 73 off 80 deliveries. Kohli hit 13 boundaries and four sixes.
During their stay in the middle, the two were involved in a partnership of 139 runs in 142 balls for the third wicket.
While he acknowledged the fans� applause by raising his bat after reaching the 10k landmark, the crowd was on its feet again when Kohli creamed Marlon Samuels to the cover boundary to bring up his century, his 37th in this format.
Kohli pulled, cut, flicked and drove in the manner he does best before cutting loose towards the end.
A six down the ground off debutant left-arm pacer Obed McCoy brought up 1,000 runs for him in the calendar year in only 11 innings, again the quickest of all time.
He then deposited McCoy over long-on for another maximum and in the next over, smashed Roach for a six and two fours to power his team past 300. Batting first after winning the toss, India were off to a poor start when Rohit Sharma (4) was dismissed early by Kemar Roach in the fourth over of the day.
After the fall of his opening partner, who like Kohli entered the game on the back of a big hundred in the series-opener, Shikhar Dhawan continued to find the fence a couple of times while playing an upper cut to slice Roach�s short ball outside off for a six over the third man.
However, Ashley Nurse had Dhawan trapped in front of the wicket after a West Indies review went in their favour.
At 40 for two in the ninth over, Rayudu joined his skipper and the two played fluently to keep the run rate healthy.
Save the one dropped catch by West Indies skipper Jason Holder at mid-off, Kohli looked untroubled throughout and seemed to be satisfied with the way his partner at the other end, Rayudu, was batting.
Earmarked for the critical number four slot through to the 2019 World Cup, Rayudu reposed his skipper�s faith by compiling a neat innings that contained eight boundaries.
SCORECARD
India: RG Sharma c Hetmyer b Roach 4, S Dhawan lbw b Nurse 29, V Kohli not out 157, AT Rayudu b Nurse 73, MS Dhoni b McCoy 20, RR Pant lbw b Samuels 17, RA Jadeja c KOA Powell b McCoy 13, Mohammed Shami not out 0. Extras: (LB-3, W-5) 8. Total: (For six wickets, 50 Overs) 321. Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-40, 3-179, 4-222, 5-248, 6-307. Bowling: JO Holder 6-0-50-0, KAJ Roach 10-0-67-1, AR Nurse 10-0-46-2, D Bishoo 10-0-48-0, OC McCoy 9-0-71-2, MN Samuels 5-0-36-1.
West Indies: Kieran Powell c Pant b Shami 18, Chandrapaul Hemraj b Kuldeep Yadav 32, Shai Hope not out 123, Marlon Samuels b Kuldeep Yadav 13, Shimron Hetmyer c Kohli b Chahal 94, Rovman Powell c Rohit b Kuldeep Yadav 18, Jason Holder run out (Rayudu/Chahal) 12, Ashley Nurse c Rayudu b Umesh 5, Kemar Roach not out 0. Extras: (B-1, LB-4, W-1) 6. Total: (For 7 wkts in 50 overs) 321. Fall of wickets: 36-1, 64-2, 78-3, 221-4, 253-5, 300-6, 315-7. Bowling: Mohammed Shami 10-0-59-1, Umesh Yadav 10-0-78-1, Kuldeep Yadav 10-0-67-3, Ravindra Jadeja 10-0-49-0, Yuzvendra Chahal 10-0-63-1. � PTI
