Virat Kohli led from the front with a brilliant century, the 42nd of his career, to guide India to a comfortable 59-run win over West Indies via Duckworth-Lewis method in the second One-Day International in Trinidad.
By virtue of the win on Sunday, India took a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. The first ODI between the two sides was washed out and the third and final match will be played in Trinidad on Wednesday.
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India rode on Kohli’s 120 off 125 balls and Shreyas Iyer’s 71 to post a challenging 279/7 after opting to bat. West Indies were then set a revised target of 270 off 46 overs under D/L method after rain interrupted the proceedings for the second time.
In pursuit, the hosts were on course at 148/4 before they lost their last six wickets for 62 runs to be bundled out for 210 in 42 overs.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar (4/31) was pick of the bowlers for India, while Mohammed Shami (2/39) and Kuldeep Yadav (2/59) bagged two wickets apiece.
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Earlier, coming in to bat in the fourth ball of the innings, Kohli played aggressively as India posted 279/7. He hit 14 fours and one six during his elegant knock.
“It was a good outing with the bat,” was Kohli’s understated reaction to his chanceless innings. “You saw exactly why we wanted to bat first given the way the West Indies struggled in the latter half of their innings. It would have been even worse but for the rain during their innings.”
Here’s a look at the milestones the Indian captain passed during another scintillating innings:
- To start things off, like many aspects of ODI batting, only Sachin Tendulkar is ahead for Kohli when it comes to run-scoring in ODIs by Indians. Kohli, the only active cricketer in the top 10 of leading run-scorers chart, moved into 8th position by overtaking Sourav Ganguly.
Leading run-scorers in ODIs
| Player | Matches (Innings) | Runs | Average | SR | 100s / 50s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sachin Tendulkar | 463 (452) | 18426 | 44.83 | 86.23 | 49 / 96 |
| Kumar Sangakkara | 404 (380) | 14234 | 41.98 | 78.86 | 25 / 93 |
| Ricky Ponting | 375 (365) | 13704 | 42.03 | 80.39 | 30 / 82 |
| Sanath Jayasuriya | 445 (433) | 13430 | 32.36 | 91.20 | 28 / 68 |
| Mahela Jayawardene | 448 (418) | 12650 | 33.37 | 78.96 | 19 / 77 |
| Inzamam-ul-Haq | 378 (350) | 11739 | 39.52 | 74.24 | 10 / 83 |
| Jack Kallis | 328 (314) | 11579 | 44.36 | 72.89 | 17 / 86 |
| Virat Kohli | 238 (229) | 11406 | 59.71 | 93.03 | 42 / 54 |
| Sourav Ganguly | 311 (300) | 11363 | 41.02 | 73.70 | 22 / 72 |
| Rahul Dravid | 344 (318) | 10889 | 39.16 | 71.24 | 12 / 83 |
- Kohli, obviously, shattered the record for the number of innings taken to register 42 ODI centuries.
- Kohli has now scored 8 ODI centuries against three different countries – Sri Lanka, West Indies and Australia – becoming the first man to do so. Next up in his list, to equal Tendulkar’s record of most centuries against one country (9 vs Australia).
- Kohli became the first Indian batsman to score three ODI centuries in West Indies. He is also the only visiting captain to do that.
- Kohli reached 2000 runs versus West Indies in super quick time. His recent record against WI reads as: 111*, 140 ,157*, 107, 16, 33*, 72, 120.
- To finish things off, a possibility that should delight all Indian fans. If Kohli keeps up this scoring rate...
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