Riding on centuries from Rohit Sharma and Ambati Rayudu, India posted a mammoth 377-5 against the West Indies in the fourth ODI at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on Monday.
Opting to bat first, India got off to a solid start with Rohit and Shikhar Dhawan taking on the Windies bowlers right from the word go. Both the openers added 71 runs for the first wicket but Dhawan got out for 38, yet again failing to capitalize on a good start. Skipper Virat Kohli suffered a rare failure as he departed for 16, in an attempt to play a shot towards third-man against Kemar Roach. After Kohli's departure, Rohit and Rayudu consolidated the Indian innings in the middle overs.
Sharma and Rayudu shared a 211-run partnership for the third wicket. While Rohit played a 162-run knock off 137 balls, scoring his world record seventh 150-plus total in ODIs, Rayudu notched up his third century (100 runs off 81 balls). Towards the end, MS Dhoni (23 off 15 balls) and Kedar Jadhav (16 off 7 balls) helped India get past the 350-run mark.
In reply, West Indies failed to emulate their batting performances of first three matches. Apart from two run-outs from Kuldeep Yadav and Kohli to get rid of Kieran Powell (4) and Shai Hope (0) early in the innings, it was Khaleel Ahmed’s fiery spell which ripped through the Windies middle-order.
Khaleel removed Marlon Samuels (18) Shimron Hetmyer (13) and Rovman Powell (1) in quick succession to reduce the visitors to 56/6. Afterwards, West Indies couldn’t quite recover as Kuldeep picked up three wickets to bundle out the tourists on 153 in 36.2 overs. For West Indies, skipper Jason Holder waged the lone battle as he scored an unbeaten 54 off 70 balls.
By virtue of this resounding 224-run victory, Team India ensured a 2-1 lead in the five-match ODI series.
Twitter experts were mighty impressed with the way Virat Kohli and company bounced back after an unexpected defeat in the third ODI.
Here are some of the tweets:
Rohit Sharma beats the Windies #INDvsWI
— Gaurav Kapur (@gauravkapur) October 29, 2018
Pluses for India: bowling of Khaleel, the catching of Rohit, the two direct hits at the start.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) October 29, 2018
Young Khaleel is destroying Windies in a superb opening spell. Worked up good pace and getting the ball to bend in late
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) October 29, 2018
India's...
— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) October 29, 2018
*third biggest win (by runs) in ODIs.
*biggest win (by runs) at home in ODIs.
*biggest win (by runs) against a Test side in ODIs. #IndvWI
Ek se badhkey do! Congratulations @ImRo45 and @RayuduAmbati , Superb 100's. Keep it coming! #RohitSharma #AmbatiRayudu #INDvsWI
— Suresh Raina (@ImRaina) October 29, 2018
Great knock by #AmbatiRayudu , excellent intent through out the innings, it’s amazing.. what the captain’s backing can do to a player’s confidence #INDvsWI
— subramani badrinath (@s_badrinath) October 29, 2018
You are named Hitman for a reason buddy. What a super innings from you, @imro45. @rayuduambati you were just amazing to watch. #INDvWI pic.twitter.com/ozjJm3MGu1
— surya77 (@surya_14kumar) October 29, 2018
A team man is one whom the entire team can bank on to 'Do' well and to get them past the line no matter what the situation is. Rayu'Du' as his name suggests has lived up to the reputation and has delivered what was expected of him. A magnificent ???? #INDvWI
— Hemang Badani (@hemangkbadani) October 29, 2018
Crucial knock and a well deserved 100 for @RayuduAmbati #INDvWI pic.twitter.com/WPSdlrbauR
— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) October 29, 2018
Clinical performance by India, today. Was good to see the bowlers stepping up as well and was particularly happy to see the spell from young Khaleel after top knocks from Rohit and Rayudu earlier #IndvWI
— VVS Laxman (@VVSLaxman281) October 29, 2018
A close affair! The Windies falling short by 9 runs of overhauling Rohit Sharma! #indvwi
— Gautam Bhimani (@gbhimani) October 29, 2018