The centurion Shai Hope’s last-ball four resulted in a tie game in the second ODI of the five-match ODI series between India and Windies at Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium (Visakhapatnam) on Wednesday. In the reply of India’s 321/6, Windies managed to score 321/7 (50 overs), thanks to Hope’s last-ball four.
In the day/night ODI encounter, the Indian skipper Kohli decided to bat first after winning the toss. The in-form Indian opener Rohit Sharma lost his wicket on just 4 runs, while another in-form opener Shikhar Dhawan fell for 29 runs.
While both the openers were dismissed under the first powerplay, Kohli and Rayudu took the charge to control and shape the innings. They had an important third-wicket partnership of 139 runs that led the side towards the good total.
At first, Kohli completed his half-century in 56 balls and then Rayudu hit his ninth ODI half-century 61 balls. Both carried their innings for further but Rayudu was finally restricted on 73 runs off 80 balls (8 fours) after the off-spinner Ashley Nurse bowled him.
Also read: Twitter reactions: Virat Kohli becomes the fastest 10,000 ODI runs scorer
However, Kohli continued his innings and completed his 37th ODI century in 106 balls. The middle-order batsmen – MS Dhoni (20), Rishabh Pant (17) and Ravindra Jadeja (13) provided some help in the end, but Kohli continued his leadership batting till the end as he remained unbeaten on 157 runs off 129 balls (13 fours and 4 sixes). These innings helped the Indian team to put 321/6 on the board at the end of 50 overs.
Also watch: Virat Kohli Smashes Two Sixes In An Over
Among the Windies bowlers, the 21-year-old international cricket debutant left-arm pacer Obed McCoy (2/46) and the off-spinner Ashley Nurse (2/71) took two wickets each. Also, Kemar Roach (1/67) and Marlon Samuels (1/36) took one wicket each.
In reply, Windies had a fine start but most of the top-orders failed to carry on their innings. Then comes up the fourth-wicket partnership between Shai Hope and Shimron Hetmyer, where it ran for 143 runs. Both the batsmen carried the long innings to chase the big target.
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Hetmyer again played a great fast knock but just missed his deserving century as he scored 94 runs off just 64 balls (4 fours and 7 sixes). However, Hope continued his innings till the end of the game while the next batsmen fail to reach the 20-run marks.
The wicketkeeper-batsman Hope completed his second ODI century in 113 balls and led the game for the thrilling final over. In the final over, Windies needed 14 runs with four wickets in hands while the Indian pacer Umesh Yadav took the responsibility to restrict the visitors under the first innings total. After the 1, 4lb, 2, wicket, 2; Windies needed 5 runs to win but Hope finished the game with a four and match finished in a tie as Windies were 321/7 in 50 overs. At the end of the match, Hope remained not out on 123 runs off 134 balls (10 fours and 3 sixes). However, Indian skipper Virat Kohli won the Player of the Match award for his brilliant batting performance. After this game, India is still 1-0 ahead, while the three matches are left in this series.
Among the Indian bowlers, the left-arm chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav (3/67) took three wickets while Mohammed Shami (1/59), Umesh Yadav (1/78) and Yuzvendra Chahal (1/63) took one wicket each.
Here are the Twitter reactions:
It's a tie in Vizag! What a match!#TeamIndia lead the 5 match ODI series 1-0#INDvWI pic.twitter.com/gwLYvu1DlQ
— BCCI (@BCCI) October 24, 2018
642 runs and a tie in the end. West Indies must be very proud of their effort. Liked the calm composure of Hope at the crease which was complimented beautifully by the aggression of Shimron Hetmyer. #IndvWI
— VVS Laxman (@VVSLaxman281) October 24, 2018
Great effort from the West Indies to tie this. Hope was brilliant and I really like the uncomplicated approach of Hetmyer. #IndvWI
— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) October 24, 2018
As much as #4 and #6 are debated in the Indian ODI team, it’s more pressing issue to figure out 3-4th seam bowling options. Nearly a dozen pace bowlers have played since 2016. Only Bhuvi-Bumrah are certainties. #IndvWI
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) October 24, 2018
Great case today to get rid of leg byes. Crucial stage, bowler bowls a good ball, batsman is clueless, misses the ball, ball hits his leg and batting team gets rewarded 4 runs. How is that fair??
— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) October 24, 2018
Virat Kohli today ran one short. And India tied the game #INDvWI.
I remember the #IndvEng World Cup 2011 game at Bangalore when Munaf Patel ran one short and the game was tied.— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) October 24, 2018
Umesh Yadav back to his vintage best 😂 #INDvWI #KingKohli pic.twitter.com/hbrHrRRaHN
— Abhijith S (@Abhi_mania) October 24, 2018
https://twitter.com/ReportingCric/status/1055059002415955968
Pic 1. Kohli's batting
Pic 2. Kohli's Captaincy #MakeRohitIndianCaptain #INDvWI pic.twitter.com/qCbAMENMWS— ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ (@InsidiousMafia_) October 24, 2018
https://twitter.com/Atheist_Krishna/status/1055132778205855744
https://twitter.com/PolaAdiripola/status/1055074035103481856
https://twitter.com/tavetiya_brand/status/1055073776948387840
https://twitter.com/Shubh_AD/status/1055140391375302657
https://twitter.com/fakingnews/status/1055136452277878784
https://twitter.com/NotThatSharma/status/1055153029811326977
Hetmyer will be like this on #IPLAUCTION#INDvWI pic.twitter.com/IcA6VG2l7K
— Mr. A 🇮🇳🏏 (@cricdrugs) October 24, 2018
https://twitter.com/IamSiyuBaghel/status/1055134602245951489
