February 9, 2022 – The West Indies made a good comeback in the second ODI after a dismal performance in the first ODI.
West Indies came to the game without their regular captain, Kieron Pollard, still recovering from a niggle. Nicholas Pooran took over the reins in the absence of their regular skipper.
Pooran called the toss right and opted to field first. Kemar Roach proved the call right, as he got better of the Indian skipper early in the innings. The extra bounce on the ball made Rohit Sharma edge it to the keeper.
Virat Kohli was playing his 100th ODI in India, and Pant tried to steady the innings, but the double strike from Odean Smith took out both the batters in a span of 6 balls.
India at that time was reeling at 43/3 at the end of 12 overs. KL Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav took it to task to rebuild the innings.
The pair initially took their time before accelerating to a 91 run partnership of 107 balls. The partnership between Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav was the only time in the innings when India looked good.
Just as it looked like the two would run away with the partnership, a mixup between them ended Rahul’s innings.
However, Surya continued on the onslaught teaming up with Washington Sundar and soon reached his fifty.
Surya looked in good touch and was looking at a possibility of a maiden century when he gave a catch to Alzarri Joseph, trying to slog-sweep Fabian Allen.
Sundar and Deepak Hooda continued to fight but succumbed to the pressure. The rest of the Indian batters fell quickly.
At the end of the first innings, India could only manage 237 runs, probably 30 or 40 runs short of a good score, with the possibility of the dew factor coming into play.
For West Indies, Joesph and Odean Smith picked two wickets each, and the rest of the bowlers chipped in a wicket apiece.
West Indies made a good comeback with the help of their bowlers. Now it is up to their batters to level the series.
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