India thrash West Indies by 7 wickets in rain-affected tie

Port of Spain (Trinidad): India produced a disciplined all-round performance to notch up a convincing seven-wicket victory over the West Indies in a rain-affected second One-day International here. The visitors now lead 2-0 in the five-match series. Virat Kohli (81) played a stellar hand in first partnering opener Parthiv Patel (56) for 120-run second wicket stand and then withstanding the little tremor induced by the rain breaks. [caption id=“attachment_22646” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Virat Kohli played a stellar knock to guide India to an easy win over the West Indies in the second ODI on Wednesday. Emmanuel Dunand/AFP”]  [/caption] Chasing 241 to win, India were 100 for one in 22 overs when a sharp passing shower made the square unfit to play for 85 minutes. The rain break reduced the visitors innings to 37 overs and the target was revised to 183, implying they needed 83 runs from 90 deliveries. India achieved the target comfortably losing the wickets of Parthiv Patel (56) and Virat Kohli (81) in 33.4 overs. Earlier, India restricted West Indies to 240 for nine after skipper Suresh Raina won the toss and elected to field at the Queen’s Park Oval. Amit Mishra (4/31) and Munaf Patel (3/35) struck in the late moments to stop the runflow and trigger a collapse after the Caribbeans went off to a good start. For the hosts, Ramnaresh Sarwan (56) and Lendl Simmons (53) cracked individual half-centuries up the order but their middle-order crumbled, slipping from 175 for three in 34 overs to 229 for nine in 48.5 overs. Chasing the revised target, Patel left early, caught behind off a tickle, but Kohli held firm and was well supported by stand-in skipper Suresh Raina (26) who brought an early end to the innings. India were off to a poor start when left-handed opener Shikhar Dhawan (3) guided a Ravi Rampaul delivery into the hands of gully fielder. But Kohli was in his element from the very start and rarely hit the ball in the air, a contrast with Patel who scooped and flicked in vacant places at will. Kohli completed 2000 runs in ODIs with a sweep off Devendra Bishoo. It has taken him only 53 innings — the second fastest behind the joint record holder Navjot Singh Sidhu and Sourav Ganguly (52 innings each). Patel, during his gritty knock, faced 64 balls and hit two fours and two sixes. Kohli, who hit six fours and one six in his 103-ball innings, was finally dismissed in the last ball of the 31st over when looking for a six, he ended up holing out to Pollard off Bishoo at long-off. Raina’s brief cameo of runs came off 19 balls and contained one four and a six. Earlier, leg-spinner Mishra took four for 31 with his sharply turning leg-breaks to keep West Indies down to 240 for nine after the hosts had threatened to run up a bigger total at one stage. Munaf Patel (3 for 35) too played a good supporting hand as the West Indies lost six wickets for 48 runs in the final nine overs. An entertaining 36 for Marlon Samuels and a hectic eighth wicket 31-run stand between skipper Darren Sammy (22 not out) and Ravi Rampaul (14) gave the Caribbeans some momentum but in the end the total was not enough. PTI .daylife_smartgalleries_container p { width: 100%; height: 100%; margin: 0; padding: 0; border: 0; background: transparent; }