India levelled the three-match ODI series against the West Indies in style, walloping them by 107 runs in the second match in Visakhapatnam.
After the twin centuries from openers Rohit Sharma and K.L. Rahul helped India set a huge total of 387/5, Mohammed Shami (3/39) and Kuldeep Yadav (3/52) starred with the ball to bowl out the visitors for 280.
Yadav, in fact, took his second ODI hat-trick, dismissing Shai Hope, who top-scored for Windies with 78, Jason Holder and Alzarri Joseph. He became the first Indian player to claim two hat-tricks in international cricket.
But it was Mohammed Shami (3/39 in 7.3 overs), who removed the dangerous Nicholas Pooran (75 off 47 balls) and skipper Kieron Pollard (0) off successive deliveries to spark a West Indies collapse.
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Earlier, the Indian vice-captain hit his 28th ODI hundred—159 off 138 balls and added 227 for the opening stand with Rahul (102 off 104 balls) to set the stage for an all-out assault by the Indian middle-order.
Rishabh Pant (39 off 16 balls) and Shreyas Iyer (53 off 32 balls) used their brute power to add 72 runs in only four overs, to take India close to the 400-run mark.
In reply, the West Indies, who looked good at 192 for 3 in the 30th over, were bowled out for 280 in 43.3 overs.
Sharma's innings had 17 boundaries and five sixes. Incidentally, he was much behind Rahul in the race for half-century but reached the three-figure mark before the Karnataka batsman.
When Rahul reached his hundred, he made a gesture which was something like shutting his ears from all the humdrum surrounding him. Whatever he meant, it seemed to have worked well for him.
It was a rare failure for skipper Virat Kohli (0) but the capacity crowd at the YSR ACA-VDCA Stadium was not disappointed as Pant and Iyer hit eight sixes between them in a span of four overs to ensure the score went past 375.
West Indies had won the first ODI in Chennai by eight wickets. The decider will be played at Cuttack on December 22.
