Sammy, dew and bad fielding help Windies level ODI series 1-1

Visakhapatnam: Darren Sammy hit a brilliant 63 off 45 balls to take West Indies to a well deserved win over India in the second ODI. The right-hander hit the winning runs as the visitors reached 289-8 with three balls to spare. “I gave myself a chance and it came off. First, I must say thanks to my team because knowing how the series has gone for me, it must have been difficult to pick me. I have happy I managed to contribute in a crucial game for the team,” said Sammy, who was adjudged the man-of-the-match, after the game But India’s horrid day in the field allowed West Indies the luxury of several lives and could perhaps be put down as the ultimate cause of defeat. Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni dropped three catches, Yuvraj Singh dropped Lendl Simmons on 45 (he went on to make 62) and Dwayne Bravo was also given a fair share of chances. The heavy dew on the field in the second innings didn’t help the bowlers either. A lot of full tosses were bowled and Sammy took full advantage of them. “There was a lot of dew that made it difficult to even hold the ball and if you keep that in mind, it was a good performance by the bowlers,” said Dhoni. “If there was no dew then 289 was like 400-odd runs because there was plenty of turn on this wicket.” This wasn’t the typical Sammy innings. He usually looks to go for the big shots from the beginning but he held himself back today and made the Indians pay. At one point, 185-5 and given their recent form looked pretty much out of it. But then Simmons and Sammy laced together an 82-run partnership in just 12.3 to bring the West Indies roaring back into the match. Opener Kieran Powell got 59 and Bravo got 50 as well. West Indies skipper Dwayne Bravo said, “This morning our team meeting was very good and we all got together and planned very well. We executed well for most part of the innings. Our aim was to have one of our top-5 batsmen bat through the innings and three of our batsmen got fifties. So it is a positive move.” Earlier Virat Kohli missed out on a hundred by just one run before skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s fiery knock propelled India to a challenging 288 for seven. Electing to bowl, unsure of how the wicket would behave after two days of incessant rains, the West Indies kept India under pressure for most of the time but the hosts scored 62 runs off the last five overs to steal the thunder from the Caribbeans. Kohli showed calmness to soothe the nerves but only to fall victim to a rash pull as India were in danger after losing two wickets for 15 runs in the batting power-play. [caption id=“attachment_1247207” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Sammy played a brilliant knock to take WI to victory. BCCI[/caption] But once again captain cool Dhoni stood to the task with an unbeaten 51, his 50th ODI half-century, to give India a decent total to defend. Dhoni slammed three sixes and four boundaries in his 40-ball knock in an entertaining 47-run seventh wicket partnership with R Ashwin. Kohli had to step in early after fall of Rohit Sharma in the fifth over and he batted sensibly, not going for the cross batted shots, even as the other Indians fell trying to speed up the run-rate. The incessant rains due to ‘Cyclone Helen’ had forced the ground to remain under cover for two days and the wicket demanded the batsmen to show patience and play their shots in the V with straight bats. Kohli showed how to do it with ease and finesse. He took the path of the singles and doubles with the occasional boundaries. He ran for 53 ones and five twos with only nine fours to inch one run shy of a third hundred here. It was then perhaps that the elegant Indian batsman lost his patience briefly as paceman Ravi Rampaul denied him a well-deserved century. Rampaul sent down a bouncer, Kohli swirled his bat and Jason Holder took a low diving catch in deep fine leg. With inputs from PTI