When Kohli-Rohit Took West Indies On

For the first time in four years, West Indies put up a total over 300 (322/8) on the board against India and they must have felt their chances to put India under pressure but the captain Virat Kohli and vice-captain Rohit Sharma had some other plans who made this total a cake walk as India completed a dominating 8-wickets win with 47 balls to spare on Sunday, October 21 at Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati.

More than that it was another day of India's batting supremacy. Despite losing Shikhar Dhawan early in the big chase, Rohit Sharma (152* off 117) and Virat Kohli (140 of 107) schooled inexperienced West Indies bowling attack. When debutante Oshane Thomas chopped on Dhawan in the second over, it looked as he will trouble India's top order with his extreme pace and bounce but the duo of Rohit and Virat took him on in his second over and hammered 18 runs to disturb his line and length and after that he never looked to be gain his line and length.



Virat and Rohit had has complemented each other really well throughout the inning. When Virat Kohli was hammering Windies' bowlers Rohit Sharma was relying on ones and twos and was happy to give the strike his partner. Even though Rohit was hitting fours and sixes at a certain stage but more than that he was playing an anchor's role and When Kohli got out after adding a record 246 runs for the second, Rohit took that role from and India's new number 4 Ambati Rayudu played an anchor's role.

"It's never too difficult when you have Rohit at the other end. Among the top three, I mostly take the anchor role because both Rohit and Shikhar are good stroke-makers. It was one of those days where I felt good and I told Rohit I will continue to bat this way positively and maybe you can play the anchor role.

When Rayudu came he took that role and Rohit took over from me. I think that's what ODI batting is all about. It's about communication and batting in partnerships. It's our 5th or 6th double-century partnership, it's a pleasure to bat with him. When we are batting like that, it's good fun out there and we know the team will benefit from it as well," Virat said in the post-match presentation ceremony



It was such dominance by Kohli and Rohit that didn't allow West Indies to make a comeback at any stage of the game. The Windies bowlers were so helpless and clueless against the no.1 (Virat) and no.2 (Rohit) batsmen in ICC's ODI ranking. Even though Kohli couldn't finish the game but during his masterful inning he completed his 36th ODI hundred and became the fastest to reach the milestone while Rohit carried his Asia Cup form and scored his 20th hundred.

This is not the first time when the duo put up such big partnership. In 64 innings they have scored 3931 runs and put 14 hundred and 5 double hundred runs stand together with an average of 65.51. In last few years the trio of Dhawan, Rohit and Virat have been scoring most of the runs and have been the biggest strength of Indian batting line-up. Whenever the trio failed to perform a match India's middle order has have always struggled.

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Pic Courtesy - Cricbuzz