After trampling the West Indies in the first ODI in Guwahati, India would have their sights set on doing exactly the same when they meet the Caribbean side in the second ODI in Hyderabad on Wednesday.
That they didn’t bring in any changes in the squad is in itself an indication of the fact that they would aim for complete domination like they did on October 21.
It was absolute masterclasses from skipper Virat Kohli and his deputy Rohit Sharma who stole the show with a massive 246-run stand that took the fire out of the West Indies side, as they succumbed to yet another loss.
Both batsmen went onto score centuries as India raced to an emphatic eight-wicket win with 7.4 overs of play remaining.
But the West Indies showed that they had some fight left in them after a battering in the Test series through a welcome hundred by Shimron Hetmeyer. The left-hander powered his way to his third ODI hundred as the visitors settled for a big finish with 322 runs at the end of their allotted 50 overs.
This boost in the batting effort would come as a huge positive to skipper Jason Holder who admitted that there wasn’t anything to be disappointed about after his side went down in the first ODI.
They looked a far more confident side with the bat and even though India struck at regular intervals, they managed to pull off a more-than-decent total on that sort of a pitch. Hetmeyer’s hundred was just the indication of how good the batting conditions were and Kohli and Rohit’s knocks added weight to that statement.
Going into the second game, India would love to keep their tactics intact just like their squad but would want to do better with the ball and stop the flow of runs, unlike the first game. Holder, on the other hand, would purely aim at a win after all these losses so far in the tour and would count on his bowlers to deliver this time after they were taken to the cleaners in Guwahati.
Image credit-Hindustan Times