Shai Hope’s special century in his 100th ODI appearance and captain Nicholas Pooran’s significant 74 went in vain as West Indies lost one more match in the series on Sunday. The wrecker-in-chief this time was Axar Patel, who scored India’s second- half-century against the Windies, to seal the last-over thrill ride for the Men in Blue as the visitors chased down the target of 312 in the 2nd ODI in Port of Spain with only two balls to spare. Axar made it happen with a monstrous six in the last over and with that broke MS Dhoni’s 17-year-old record.
After India went three down for 79 in the 18th over of the chase, Shreyas Iyer (63) and Sanju Samson (54) assisted India with recovering with his 99-run stand with both s scoring their respective half-centuries. Deepak Hooda (33) and Axar then, at that point, stitched a quick fifty-run stand before West Indies exposed India’s tail-end batting with the latter as the last hope in the chase.
West Indies did dominate most of the defense however Axar’s flurry of boundaries – 3 fours and 5 sixes – alongside Avesh Khan’s twin boundaries reduced the equation to 6 required off 3. Axar then, at that point, held his nerve and smashed the wider low full toss delivery from Kyle Mayers in the fourth ball of the last over, over long-off, as India inflicted another shattering loss for the Windies.
Here's the match-winning knock from @akshar2026. His magical batting earned him the Player of the Match title.
— FanCode (@FanCode) July 24, 2022
Watch all the action from the India tour of West Indies LIVE, only on #FanCode 👉 https://t.co/RCdQk1l7GU@BCCI @windiescricket #WIvIND #INDvsWIonFanCode #INDvsWI pic.twitter.com/y8xQeUxtK6
With the unbeaten knock of 64 runs off 35 balls, Axar broke Dhoni’s long-standing record in ODI cricket. The five sixes he hit during the chase is presently the most by an Indian player at No.7 or lower in a successful ODI chase. Dhoni had recorded three sixes during India’s pursuit against Zimbabwe back in 2005. Yusuf Pathan had equaled Dhoni’s count two times in his career, both in 2011 – against South Africa and Ireland.
