Rampaul, Roach script a record breaking recovery act
Visakhapatnam: Ravi Rampaul struck a brilliant 86 and together with Kemar Roach registered world record 99-run partnership for the last wicket to power the West Indies to a challenging 269 for nine against India in the second ODI in the southeastern Indian state Andhra Pradesh on Friday.
Rampaul was at his destructive best as he hit half a dozen sixes and as many boundaries during his 66-ball blitzkrieg 86. © AFP
Down and out at 170 for nine, Rampaul, who returned to the team after resting the first ODI, joined hands with Roach (24 not out) to script a recovery act that no one would have imagined after opener Lendl Simmons was out in the 36th over.
Rampaul was at his destructive best as he hit half a dozen sixes and as many boundaries during his 66-ball blitzkrieg.
Roach gave him perfect support by keeping the other end intact and hit three fours in his 36-ball knock.
Sent into bat, it was opener Lendl Simmons who stood tall at the top of the order with a gritty 78 off 102 balls (8x4, 1x6) to lend stability to the visitors' innings.
Contrary to the final score, West Indies never looked in a position to cross the 200-run mark as they lost wickets at regular intervals from the start to find themselves in a spot of bother at 170 for nine before Rampaul and Roach lifted the visitors.
Since his arrival, Rampaul completely dominated the Indian attack and did not spare even a single home team bowler during his unconquered innings.
Earlier, Umesh Yadav and R Vinay Kumar ripped through the West Indies top-order to see the visitors reeling at 63 for five in the 17th over.
But Simmons repaired the innings with a fine 56-run sixth wicket stand with big-hitting Kieron Pollard (35 off 30 balls), who struck three fours and two huge sixes.
Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (1/74) was the most expensive Indian bowler, who conceded six of the nine sixes West Indies batsmen struck on Friday.
Looking for that elusive win on Indian soil since they landed a month back, it was a near perfect platform for the West Indies to post an imposing total on a belter of track on offer at the Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium.
But the visitor's top-order once again put up a spineless display, crumbling against the pace and bounce of Yadav (3/38) and Vinay Kumar (2/43).
It was opener Lendl Simmons who stood tall at the top of the order with a gritty 78 off 102 balls (8x4, 1x6) to lend stability to the visitors' innings. © AFP
Yadav tested the West Indies top-order now and then with his nagging line and length and his efforts soon bore fruit when he dismissed Adrian Barath (0) in the final delivery of his first over.
Yadav then accounted for Marlon Samuels, who gave a sharp catch to Suresh Raina at third slip in the seventh over to finish off a fine first spell.
Vinay Kumar then joined the party and marked his return into second spell with a double wicket maiden when he had the prized scalp of Darren Bravo (13) and Danza Hyatt (0) in a span of three balls.
Bravo was looking good with two boundaries and along with Simmons seemed in a mood to unsettle the rhythm of Indian bowlers. But inexperience led to his downfall when the stylish left-hander gave an easy lofted catch to Ashwin at mid-on.
A ball later, West Indies' problems compunded as Hyatt nicked one to Patel before Yadav picked up his third victim in the form of wicketkeeper Dinesh Ramdin to reduce the visitors to 63 for five in 16.1 overs.
The top-half back in the dressing room, big-hitting Pollard gave West Indies a ray of hope with some lusty hits, including a boundary off Yadav from the first delivery he faced.
Pollard looked at his ruthless best when he cleared the long-off and long-on boundaries for back-to-back sixes of Ashwin, but the off-spinner got his revenge back in the very next ball trapping the right-hander lbw, in what appeared to be a dubious decision by Indian umpire S Ravi.
Simmons, on the other hand, stood tall amid the ruins holding one end up till the ninth wicket before his innings was cut short by a brilliant Jadeja, whose perfect throw from the fine-leg boundary caught the batsman short of the crease.
But then came Rampaul, who played an innings of his life full of exuberance and authority, and single-handedly took the West Indies past the 250-mark, which at one stage looked impossible.
