Virat’s Record Ton & Karthik’s Fifty Guide India to WI Series Win

Virat Kohli broke Sachin Tendulkar’s record for the most centuries in an ODI chase.

India: 206-2 (Virat Kohli 111 not out, Dinesh Karthik 50 not out; Alzarri Joseph 1-39) beat West Indies: 205-9 (Shai Hope 51, Kyle Hope 46; Mohammed Shami 4-48) by 8 wickets

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India’s batting line-up was in focus after the 11-run loss to West Indies in the fourth ODI, but skipper Virat Kohli ensured there was no repeat of that outcome, anchoring India’s innings in an 8-wicket win over the hosts in the decider on Thursday night.

India thus closed out the five match ODI series 3-1 with Virat Kohli staying unbeaten at 111 and middle-order batsman Dinesh Karthik making a 50.

The skipper’s 28th ODI ton also saw him tie Sanath Jayasuriya at the third spot in the all-time ODI centuries’ list. Sachin Tendulkar leads the table with 49 hundreds, Ricky Ponting is second with 30.

Virat, though, did manage to break one of Sachin’s record - that of the most centuries in an ODI chase. His 18th hundred, batting second, surpasses the Masters’ 17. However, Virat took just 102 innings to get to the mark, while Sachin had taken 232.

West Indies Batted First

Earlier opting to bat, West Indies made a decent start before losing their first wicket in the ninth over when Lewis (9) was caught by Indian skipper Kohli off the Hardik Pandya's (1/27) second delivery of the innings.

Hope brothers, Kyle and Shai, then shared 37 runs off 45 balls for the second wicket before Umesh struck twin blows in consecutive balls to peg West Indies back.

Kyle, who was looking good, struck Umesh for two consecutive boundaries in the 16th over, but in search of one too many he perished, picking out Dhawan at midwicket while trying to attempt for an ambitious pull.

Umesh then had Roston Chase LBW for a duck with a full and straight delivery in the next ball. The batsman went for the review, but to no avail with West Indies slumping to 76 for three by the end of the 16th over.

Shai and Jason Mohammed (16) then stitched 39 for the fourth wicket before Kedar Jadhav (1/13) struck with his golden arm, dismissing the latter with a straightforward return catch.

Young Shai held one end up and and played with caution to notch up his second half-century of the series in the 38th over. Together with skipper Jason Holder, Shai added 48 runs for the fifth wicket to keep West Indies' innings afloat.

While Shai played with caution, Holder was aggressive from the onset and piled up his 36 runs off just 34 balls with the help of four boundaries and one six. But an irresponsible shot led to the skipper’s dismissal as he was holed out to Dhawan at long-on to hand Shami his first wicket.

An over later Shami struck again when he dismissed Shai with the set batsman attempting an ambitious shot and Ajinkya Rahane did the rest by latching on to an outstanding running catch at midwicket.

Shami again struck in his next over removing Ashley Nurse, who chipped one straight to Kuldeep Yadav at short midwicket.

Shami also accounted for Devendra Bishoo, caught by Dhoni behind the stumps.

Rovman Powell (31 off 32 balls) played a good hand towards the end to get West Indies past the 200-run mark.

India’s Chase

Chasing 206, India lost opener Shikhar Dhawan to the last delivery of the opening over, caught by Evin Lewis off Alzarri Joseph.

Thereon though, India hardly faced any trouble as Kohli (111 not out) and ever-consistent Ajinkya Rahane (39 off 51) shared 79 runs for the second wicket in 17.5 overs to set the platform for a comfortable win.

While ever-consistent Rahane played the second fiddle, Kohli played with aggression from the onset. However, Rahane was unlucky to miss out on his fifth consecutive half-century of the series as he was dismissed lbw by Devendra Bishoo in the 19th over.

Kohli, on the other hand, played a chanceless knock and dictated the terms. He brought up his 28th ODI century, a record 18th while chasing, with a boundary off Kesrick Williams.

Together with Dinesh Karthik (50 not off 52 balls), Kohli stitched an unbeaten 122 runs for the third wicket to take India home with 79 balls to spare.

(With inputs from PTI and IANS.)