Alzarri Joseph and debutante Odean Smith led West Indies restricted India to 237/9 in the second ODI match in Ahmedabad. India had batted first and shocked everyone with Rishabh Pant opening the batting with Rohit Sharma. The experiment failed miserably as both the openers couldn’t get the hosts to a rolling start. They were 39/2 when Pant was dismissed by Odean Smith who was making his ODI debut.
IND vs WI, 2nd ODI: Live Score and Updates
He struck again in his very same over to dismiss dangerman Virat Kohli(18 off 30) who just didn’t look like in his usual self. After being reduced to 43/3, India were powered by KL Rahul, who came into bat at number five and excelled. He alongside Suryakumar Yadav shared 91 run stand for the fourth wicket. Rahul ate up a few balls but soon got into his groove using his feet very well against the spinners: Akeal Hosein and Fabian Allen. He was looking really good before a mix up with Yadav made sure that Windies get a breakthrough against the run of play. Unfortunately, Rahul was just a run short of a well-deserved fifty. Meanwhile, Yadav hung on and got to his fifty before his favorite shot—sweep—proved fatal for him.
He scored a patient 64 off 83 balls before cameos from Washington Sundar (24 off 41) and Deepak Hooda (29) managed to take them to a respectable total. Meanwhile, debutante Odean Smith was at his willy best. He trapped Kohli with his variable pace, bowling him short, and surprising him with a fuller one that kissed his edge. Earlier KL Rahul was also dropped very early. Had he been caught, Windies would have gotten India to an even smaller score.
The West Indies on Wednesday won the toss and opted to bowl in the second ODI against Team India at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. In the absence of regular skipper Kieron Pollard, who missed out due to fitness issues, Nicholas Pooran stepped into the captain’s shoes for the game.
After losing the first game by 6 wickets, the tourists will look to bounce back in order to keep the series alive. The West Indies made a forced change to the final XI where fast bowler Odean Smith comes in as Pollard’s replacement.
“We will bowl first. Kieron isn’t fit enough, has a niggle. We’re staying in the present, the goal is to play a good brand of cricket, for the entire duration of the game. Just one change for us – Odean Smith is in,” said Windies stand-in captain Nicholas Pooran.
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