India vs West Indies, 3rd ODI: West Indies beat India by 43 runs, level series 1-1

Virat Kohli was dismissed by Marlon Samuels on 107. (PTI Photo)

West Indies kept picking wickets at regular intervals. Rishabh Pant was dismissed when he tried to sweep Nurse and ended up nicking it to the wicketkeeper. MS Dhoni, who was pretty much the last man who could have ably assisted Kohli was caught behind off Jason Holder. That was Holder’s second wicket of the innings as he had accounted for Rohit Sharma with a ripper of a delivery. Bhuvneshwar Kumar held on as Kohli crossed over into three figures. In the process, he became the first Indian batsman and the 10th overall to score three consecutive ODI centuries. His average in 50-over cricket crossed 60 and he overtook MS Dhoni in terms of total ODI runs in the same innings. Bhuvneshwar was soon caught in the deep and Kohli was left with the grossly inexperienced Kuldeep Yadav as company. But that situation did not exist for long as Kohli ended being bowled over by Marlon Samuels. It was only a matter of time before West Indies cleaned up the rest of the Indian batting lineup.

The visitors’ innings was anchored by another classy knock from Shai Hope. The Barbadian fell just five runs short of his fourth ODI century but his wicket also marked a sudden collapse for West Indies in the middle overs. Ashley Nurse and Kemar Roach then shared a ninth-wicket partnership of 54 runs, propelling West Indies’ total to 283/9. Nurse scored 40 off 22 balls. That, coupled with his bowling performance, earned him the man of the match award.

The fourth ODI will be played on October 29 at Mumbai’s Brabourne Stadium.