Axar Patel's heroic 64 no helps India beat West Indies by two wickets in second ODI
Trinidad: Indian batsmen Axar Patel (64*) and Mohammed Siraj (1*) managed to clinch a thrilling two-wicket victory against West Indies in the second ODI match of the tournament on Sunday.
Chasing a massive target of 312 runs which was set by West Indies, India reached the score by losing eight wickets and two balls to spare.
Axar Patel dominated the proceedings at the end as his heroic 35-ball 64 helped India in reaching the target.
Sanju Samson (54) and Shreyas Iyer (63) were the other two main scorers for the squad.
Shubman Gill contributed crucial 43 runs.
Alzarri Joseph and Kyle picked up two wickets for the hosts.
Earlier, Opener Shai Hope's splendid century and skipper Nicholas Pooran fifty propelled West Indies to a challenging 311/6 against India in the second ODI.
Hope built all-important 50-odd partnerships with opener Kayle Mayers (39) and Shamarh Brooks (35), covering up his failure in the first ODI. He became the fourth West Indian batsman to score a century in his 100th ODI.
The opener found a perfect partner in Pooran, who adorned an aggressive approach compared to his sedate innings-building knock. The West Indies captain smacked 6 sixes and a boundary in his power-packed innings of 74 off 77 balls.
Both shared a 117-run partnership off 126 balls as he cracked 115 by staying in the crease and cutting loose at the end. He clobbered 8 boundaries and 3 sixes in his 135 runs knock.
Rovman Powell (13) and Romario Shepherd (14) were vigorous enough to ship West Indies over 300 runs mark as the hosts piled up 93 runs in the last 10 overs.
Spinners Axar Patel (1/40) and Deepak Hooda (1/42) excelled in the bowling department, while Yuzvendra Chahal bagged one wicket, but gave away 69 far too many runs.
Mohammed Siraj went wicketless, conceding 47 runs, but Avesh Khan was expensive, giving away 54 runs in six overs with an economy rate of 9 per over.
Shardul Thakur scalped three wickets for 54 runs after having a disastrous first over, where he leaked 13 runs.
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