Despite another brilliant knock by Virat Kohli which saw the modern-day great notch up his 42nd ODI hundred, India were restricted to below 300 by a resilient West Indies in the second ODI of the 3-match series between the hosts and India, at Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. Eventually, the Men in Blue reached a score of 279/7, which would require the Jason Holder-led side to pull off the highest successful chase in the history of the venue to win this match.
The innings started on a great note for West Indies as Sheldon Cottrell struck in the very first over, getting Shikhar Dhawan out leg-before-wicket. However, the Indian captain looked in supreme form from the moment he walked in and no bowler was able to make much of an impact upon him. He stroked the ball effortlessly around the ground while Rohit Sharma took his time to get settled at the other end.
But Sharma couldn't use his patience to get a big score as all-rounder Roston Chase proved effective with his tight line and length and dismissed him for 18. Rishabh Pant then came in to bat at the much-discussed no. 4 position and, just like the World Cup semi-final, was undone by an accumulation of dot balls.
But then Kohli and Shreyas Iyer put on a 125-run partnership to take their team in a commanding position. Kohli got to his 42nd hundred, just seven short of Sachin Tendulkar's world-record, while Iyer also completed his fifty. A mini-collapse starting from the dismissal of Iyer in the 46th over prevented India from getting 300 but still they would be favourites against an inconsistent Windies bowling attack.
