Despite shoddy catching and phases of wayward bowling, West Indies managed to strike enough blows to ensure India had a fight on their hands in Visakhapatnam. Virat Kohli batted fluently at one end, but there was no stability at the other until Rohit Sharma, who played a pivotal role in India's victory in Cuttack, joined him in an unbroken partnership of 38.
West Indies were riding a wave of momentum after Ravi Rampaul's pyrotechnics with the bat and they did not wait long to celebrate in the field. Roach struck with the second delivery of the second over, Darren Sammy diving to his left at slip to catch Parthiv Patel. They could have had Virender Sehwag four balls later but this time Sammy dropped the edge.
India got going with a couple of streaky boundaries: Gautam Gambhir flicked Rampaul in the air but wide of the fielder at square leg, and Sehwag unintentionally slashed over the cordon. Rampaul retorted by smacking Sehwag on the back of the helmet with a bouncer, before Gambhir threw a counterpunch with a cover drive.
Gambhir's end in the seventh over came unexpectedly. He moved back and cut Rampaul hard towards short cover where the shortest fielder in the game, Adrian Barath, timed his jump perfectly and plucked the speeding ball out of the air with one hand. India were 29 for 2.
Kohli was scoreless for eight balls before driving Andre Russell on the up to the cover boundary. His second four was a top edge over the keeper but the third was more authoritative: a carve to the point boundary.
Sehwag was dropped again, off Sammy in the 12th over, when Darren Bravo moved forward too slowly at third man and couldn't reach the sliced ball in time. Sammy's disappointment was evident as he trudged off the field because of a drizzle moments later. Bravo was poor in the field as soon as play resumed as well, misfielding a Kohli bottom edge as the ball sped past the wicketkeeper towards the boundary.
It was the beginning of a streaky, eventful passage of play. Kohli successfully cut Russell over the outstretched arm of the leaping Kieron Pollard at point, and then failed to connect with a swivel pull as the bowler strayed down leg side. Denesh Ramdin did not catch the ball cleanly and the umpire did not signal leg-byes, which meant West Indies had dropped another catch. A few overs later, Kohli would be let off again, this time by Marlon Samuels, who couldn't hold on to a caught-and-bowled chance as he dived to his right.
Sehwag was barely noticeable during all this excitement. During the bowling Powerplay, he tried to loft Samuels inside out but Russell was too quick at wide long-off. Sehwag was out for 26, having faced only 35 balls even though he batted into the 17th over.
Rohit had a painful start to his innings, as Rampaul thudded a short ball into his glove, but he responded with an audacious pull over the midwicket boundary. It was the start of a partnership that could decide the game.
West Indies 269 in 9 overs (Rampaul 86*, Simmons 78, Yadav 3-38) v India
Lendl Simmons brought up 1000 ODI-career runs during his half-century © AFP
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Umesh Yadav and Vinay Kumar, India's new-ball attack, exploited rare seam-bowling conditions on the subcontinent and cut through the West Indian top order. Under cloudy skies, on a cracked pitch that had bounce, they used consistent outswing to help reduce West Indies to 149 for 8 despite defiance from Lendl Simmons. The end should have quickly followed, but it didn't, because Ravi Rampaul's record-breaking innings at No. 10 ensured he would have a strong target to defend.
Rampaul's unbeaten 86 was the highest score by a No. 10 in one-day internationals. His partnership of 99 in 14 overs with last man Kemar Roach was the third-highest for the final wicket. He stunned India and rendered their bowlers bereft of ideas. It had seemed a matter of when, and not if, West Indies would be dismissed. In the end, they never were, and finished on 269 for 9.
A drizzle in Visakhapatnam forced the toss to be delayed by 30 minutes, but when it eventually took place, Virender Sehwag won and chose to chase. The floodlights were on at 2.45 pm as play began in front of a strong crowd and Yadav didn't take long to give them reason to roar. In the second over, he produced a delivery that angled in to the right-hand batsman, pitched on a good length, bounced sharply and seamed away late to graze Adrian Barath's outside edge en route to the wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel.
Simmons also had a nervy start, surviving a close lbw shout from Yadav and edging Vinay wide of a diving second slip. He then square drove Vinay with flair to the point boundary. It was how Simmons would bat, trying to play his shots despite surviving a close call every now and then.
A feature of Yadav's bowling was how upright the seam was before the ball hit the pitch and moved away. He induced an outside edge from Marlon Samuels, on 2, only for Rohit Sharma to drop a sitter at second slip. Sehwag, because of all the movement, had a third slip and he was rewarded for this attacking field when Samuels edged Yadav again. This time Suresh Raina dived to his right and took a low catch. West Indies were 25 for 2.
Simmons continued to attack, stylishly whipping Yadav to the square-leg boundary, and walking out of his crease to drive Vinay on the up through extra cover to bring up 1000 career runs, before flaying the next ball through point for four. There was promise from Darren Bravo, who flicked and straight drove Varun Aaron for fours. It proved false, though, for Bravo lofted a length ball from Vinay to mid-on - a soft dismissal. Vinay hurt West Indies again two balls later by finding Danza Hyatt's outside edge before he had scored.
Only after Denesh Ramdin - Yadav's third wicket - departed with his team reeling at 63 for 5, did things begin to look up for West Indies. Kieron Pollard found the boundary frequently and Simmons reached his half-century by dabbing Ravindra Jadeja past slip to the third-man boundary. Pollard then brought up the 50 partnership by launching the offspinner R Ashwin over the straight boundary, and followed up with another one over wide long-on next ball. Another slump was around the corner, though.
The ball after Pollard hit his second six, he was caught by the wicketkeeper off Ashwin, after the ball grazed the glove and lobbed up off the pad. Darren Sammy and Andre Russell came and went, and it was then that Rampaul made his entrance at 149 for 8. He swept Ashwin for four and clubbed him over long-on, before targeting Jadeja and scoring two more boundaries on the leg side. Between those shots, Simmons had been run out for 78.
The boundaries were small but Rampaul would have cleared larger ones today. He hit half a dozen sixes and as many fours, most of them swung with power over and through the leg side. Ashwin and Aaron suffered the most. Rampaul was barely troubled and brought up his half-century off 35 balls. In Roach, he had a sensible partner who simply rotated strike.
There was a certain inevitability about how the innings ended, with Rampaul slamming Aaron over the straight boundary. He walked off the field with a composed look on his face, knowing the job was only half done.
