Cuttack,Dec.23: A big opening stand between Rohit Sharma and K.L. Rahul, Virat Kohli\u2019s 85 and a late surge from Shardul Thakur and Ravindra Jadeja helped India chase down 316 and win the three-match series against the West Indies 2-1 at the Barabati Stadium here on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The West Indies seemed to have gained the upper hand after\ndismissing Kohli late in the game, but Thakur came in and turned the game\naround with the bat to see the hosts home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
India\u2019s chase started with yet another strong opening stand\nbetween Rahul (77) and Rohit (63). The pair put up 122 runs in just 21.2 overs\nto put India firmly in the driving seat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the course of his knock, Rohit broke Sri Lanka great\nSanath Jayasuriya\u2019s 22-year-old record for most runs in a calendar year by an\nopener across formats. Rohit\u2019s ninth run took his tally to 2,388 runs, which\ntook him past Jayasuriya\u2019s 1997 tally of 2,387 runs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rohit and Rahul kept India in cruise mode in the first 20\novers until Jason Holder got the breakthrough with the wicket of Rohit. Holder\nbowled a length delivery that had some extra bounce and Rohit ended up nicking\nit to Shai Hope behind the stumps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kohli and Rahul, however, seemed to continue the good work\nuntil the latter was done for pace by Alzarri Joseph. Joseph hurried Rahul into\ntucking the ball away off his hips which led to it ballooning straight into the\nhands of Hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The West Indies tightened the noose after that with Keemo\nPaul getting Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant in quick succession. Kedar Jadhav\nthen fell to Sheldon Cottrell and the match was poised on a knife\u2019s edge with\nIndia 228\/5 in 39 overs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ravindra Jadeja then held on with Kohli as the pair went\nabout repairing the damage. The two stitched a counter attacking stand to tip\nthe balance India\u2019s favour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kohli (85) was nearing another century in a run chase before\nchopping a rather loose delivery by Keemo Paul on to his stumps, much to the\ndismay of the capacity crowd at the Barabati Stadium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, Shardul Thakur came in and took the chase by its\nhorns. He hit a four off the very first ball he faced and ended up smashing 17\noff just six balls. He hit one more four and a six and practically took the\ngame away from the visitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A tight run in the end seemed to have done the job, although\nthere was an appeal for run out but Keemo Paul had overstepped which meant that\nthe decision did not matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Earlier, a late flourish led by captain Kieron Pollard and\nNicholas Pooran helped the West Indies set up a competitive target of 316 for\nIndia to chase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pollard and Pooran put up a 135-run stand for the fifth\nwicket to revitalise the West Indies innings which was struggling until then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pooran scored 89 off 64 balls with the help of 10 fours and\nthree sixes. Pollard, on the other hand, smashed 74 off 51 balls, his innings\nlaced with three fours and seven sixes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The West Indies scored 32 runs off the last two overs, most\nof which came off Pollard\u2019s bat. The visitors amassed 118 runs in the last 10\novers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brief scores: West Indies 315\/5 in 50 overs (Nicholas Pooran\n89, Kieron Pollard 74; Navdeep Saini 2\/58) vs India 316\/6 in 48.4 overs (Virat\nKohli 85, K.L. Rahul 77, Rohit Sharma 63; Keemo Paul 3\/59)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(IANS)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Cuttack,Dec.23: A big opening stand between Rohit Sharma and K.L. Rahul, Virat Kohli\u2019s 85 and a late surge from Shardul Thakur and Ravindra Jadeja helped India chase down 316 and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,46],"tags":[6041,1192],"class_list":["post-34687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-top-stories","tag-barabati","tag-india"],"yoast_head":"\n