Match Report
Ind vs WI (Third ODI): Virat Kohli’s record century went in vain as Windies levelled the series
By Sandy - Oct 27, 2018 10:45 pm
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Indian skipper Virat Kohli’s record century went in vain in the third ODI of the five-match home ODI series against Windies at Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium (Pune) on Saturday night as Windies beat the hosts by 43 runs after India failed to chase the 284 runs target.

Ind-Win
India vs Windies

Leading the series by 1-0, Indian captain Virat Kohli decided to field first after winning the toss. Once again the most of Windies top-order batting failed to provide the long innings. Only the wicketkeeper-batsman and the last ODI’s centurion, Shai Hope, again played an important role to construct the team’s innings.

Also read: Reason Behind Windies Players Wearing Black Armband In Pune ODI

In his lengthy innings, Hope had two important partnerships with the in-form Shimron Hetmyer and the skipper Jason Holder. Hope and Hetmyer had a 56-run partnership for the fourth wicket while Hope and Holder had another 76-run partnership for the sixth wicket. Hetmyer and Holder both failed to capitalise their innings as they were dismissed on 37 and 32 runs respectively, but Hope carried his innings for the long time, who completed his half-century in 72 balls.

Shai
Shai Hope

Also watch: MS Dhoni’s Magic Sends Hetmyer Back To The Pavilion

The 24-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman just missed his second consecutive ODI century as he was bowled by Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah on 95 runs off 113 balls (6 fours and 3 sixes). However, Windies were still battling to reach to the 250+ total and then the lower-order batsman Ashley Nurse played a cameo role of 40 runs off just 22 balls (4 fours and 2 sixes) that helped them to put a good fighting total of 283/9 in the end.

Nurse
Ashley Nurse

On his return, Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah delivered superbly and finished with the bowling figure of 10-1-35-4. Also, the left-arm chinaman bowler picked up two wickets (2/52) and the right-arm pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1/70), left-arm pacer Khaleel Ahmed (1/65) and the leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal (1/56) all picked up one wicket each.

Bumrah
Jasprit Bumrah was the top bowler for India

Also watch: Jasprit Bumrah Cleans Shai Hope With A Fiery Yorker

In reply, apart from the Indian skipper Virat Kohli, no other Indian batsmen played solid innings. Once again, India had a poor start as the opener Rohit Sharma lost his wicket on 8 runs in the second over of the innings.

However, soon, Virat Kohli controlled the innings along with another opener Shikhar Dhawan. They had a 79-run partnership for the second wicket before Dhawan lost his wicket on 35 runs. Kohli had two more important partnerships with Ambati Rayudu (47 runs partnership for the third wicket) and Rishabh Pant (37runs partnerships for the fourth wicket), but both the new batsmen failed to capitalise their innings as Rayudu scored 22 runs and Pant scored 24 runs.

Kohli alone stretched the team’s innings while he didn’t get enough support in the middle-order as the wickets were falling in the regular intervals. Finally, Kohli completed his 38th ODI century and third consecutive ODI century in 110 balls. He became the first Indian batsman and first ever captain to play three consecutive century knocks in three consecutive ODI innings.

Virat
Virat Kohli

Also read: Windies tour of India 2018/19: Third ODI – Stats Review

However, soon after completing his century, Kohli lost his wicket on 107 runs off 119 balls (10 fours and only six) after the Windies off-spinner Marlon Samuels bowled him.

That dismissal wrote the faith of the game as Windies soon secured their brilliant victory by 43 runs after bundling out the hosts for 240 runs (47.4 overs). With this victory in the third ODI, Windies levelled the five-match ODI series by 1-1.

Among the Windies bowlers, Marlon Samuels (3/12) bagged three wickets while Jason Holder (2/46), Obed McCoy (2/38) and Ashley Nurse (2/43) picked up two wickets each and Kemar Roach (1/48) got the only other wicket. For his brilliant match-winning all-round performances, Ashley Nurse won the Player of the Match award.

Here are some Twitter reactions:

Tags Ashley NurseBhuvneshwar KumarIndian cricket teamODI seriesShai HopeThird ODIvirat kohliWindiesWindies tour of India 2018/19

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