India captain Virat Kohli hailed his team's complete performance as the visitors cruised to a huge 105-run victory against West Indies in the second of the five-match ODI series in Port of Spain on Sunday. Put into bat, India rode on Rahane's 103 off 104 balls and a blistering 66-ball 87 from captain Virat Kohli to pile on 310/5 after rain delayed the start of the match by two hours and reduced it to a 43-overs-a-side affair. The Indian bowlers then took over as they restricted West Indies to 205/6 at the Queen's Park Oval Stadium. (Scorecard)
"It was a complete performance again. We have been playing some good cricket leading up to this game. The partnership between Ajinkya and Shikhar was outstanding, and myself at the back end, with Yuvi, MS and Kedar chipping in," Kohli said after the match.
Rahane smashed his third ODI hundred to set up India's biggest win against the West Indies in the Caribbeans in terms of runs. Rahane and his opener partner Dhawan (63) laid a strong foundation with a 114-run stand and despite a bit of a wobble in the middle overs, India went past 300 with Kohli stamping his class later in the innings.
After today's total, India became the side who have hit maximum number of 300-plus scores in an innings, as they
reached the mark for the 96th time, overtaking Australia who had made over 300 runs 95 times.
Kohli praised Rahane's mental strength and character.
"Jinks (Ajinkya Rahane) couldn't get a game in the Champions Trophy unfortunately, but shows his mental strength and the character he possesses, steps in and scores runs. That's a testimony to our bench strength," Kohli said.
For India, the bowlers bowled an impeccable line and length with Kuldeep Yadav (3/50) being the most successful among them. The chinaman bowler got the first wicket of his ODI career. He did not get to bowl in his debut match in the
first ODI which was abandoned due to rain.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2/9) rocked the West Indies run chase by grabbing the first two wickets by the third over.
Kohli had a special mention for young chinaman Kuldeep.
"Early wickets for Bhuvi, and really happy for Kuldeep as well, bowling for the first time and taking three wickets," he said.
When asked to describe his feeling after missing out on a hundred, the 28-year-old skipper said: "Not really worried about the century, that's the kind of mindset I have always played with. You got to score few extra runs for the team. I think this is a good start, we have a few days off before we play at Antigua."
The third ODI is on June 30 in Antigua.
