135 Without Loss, Then Kuldeep, Then Kohli: India Chase 296 With 50 Balls to Spare at Greenfield

For the first 19 overs at Greenfield, India's decision to field looked like a gift to West Indies. John Campbell and Justin Greaves took 85 from the powerplay, 107 from the first 15 overs, and 135 before a wicket fell. The crowd had come for one man and were watching two others bat as though the afternoon belonged to them. Then Kuldeep Yadav came back, the ball began to hang in the air a fraction longer than the batters wanted, and the innings that had been heading for 330 finished at 295 for 7.

West Indies 295 for 7. India 300 for 2 in 41.4 overs. An eight-wicket win with 50 balls to spare, built first on Kuldeep's 4 for 40 and then on a chase that never once looked like a chase. Shubman Gill made 110 from 108. Virat Kohli, on his return to the side, made 139 not out from 88 balls, with ten fours and nine sixes. Kuldeep was named Player of the Match. Kohli, you suspect, will be the one people talk about.

India's afternoon had two halves, and the first was the harder one. At 135 for 0 after 19.2 overs, the question was not whether West Indies would get past 300 but by how much. Kuldeep broke the stand by having Campbell caught by Prasidh Krishna for 62, and from there the innings began to leak wickets. Prasidh had Keacy Carty caught by Gill at 176. Kuldeep had Shai Hope caught by Jadeja at 195. Then, in the 36th over, came the passage that decided the match: Greaves trapped lbw for 101, upheld on India's review, and Jewel Andrew caught by Rohit Sharma off the very next ball. 135 for 0 had become 198 for 5 — five wickets for 63 in a little over 16 overs.

It is worth noting how India got there. Kuldeep and Jadeja bowled 20 overs between them for 94 runs; the three seamers, Prasidh, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Gurnoor Brar, bowled 25 overs for 165. Jadeja did not take a wicket, but his 10 overs for 54 gave Kuldeep the pressure to work with at the other end.

The chase was a different kind of cricket altogether. Rohit Sharma hit three sixes in his 32 and put on 74 with Gill before Alzarri Joseph had him caught by Andrew in the 12th over. That brought in Kohli, and the next 132 balls produced 151 runs. Gill was the steadier partner, reaching 110 from 108 with 13 fours before Roston Chase had him caught at 225 in the 34th over. By then India needed 71 from 16 overs, and Kohli and Ruturaj Gaikwad took them in 46 balls.

West Indies will look back on this one and see a match they had a real hold of. Greaves's hundred was a genuine innings — fifty from 42 balls, then a more careful second half, 12 fours and not a single six, reaching three figures from 104 balls. Campbell's 62 from 60, with three sixes, gave the start its early urgency. At 107 for 0 after 15 overs, a total well beyond 300 was the obvious target.

The collapse was not a series of rash shots so much as a loss of the thread. Carty took 31 balls over 13, Hope went for 12, and the two wickets in two balls from Kuldeep left Amir Jangoo and Roston Chase to rebuild from 198 for 5. They did it well: a 52-run stand from 56 balls, and Jangoo went on to 58 not out from 43, with a fifty from 38 balls, as the last 14.2 overs brought 97 runs. That recovery gave West Indies 295. The 63 runs for five wickets in the middle overs are what cost them 330.

With the ball, the numbers are unkind. Jayden Seales was the tightest of West Indies' bowlers, 7 overs for 32, but none of the quicks took a wicket in the powerplay and Alzarri Joseph's nine overs cost 81. Only Joseph and Chase took wickets. Against a chase led by Gill and Kohli, two wickets were never going to be enough.

We will stay with the scorecard rather than guess at the pitch. A total of 295 overhauled with more than eight overs to spare says this was a good surface for batting, and the fact that both openers' partnerships were worth 135 and 74 suggests the new ball offered little to either side. The only bowler to genuinely dominate was a wrist-spinner: Kuldeep's 4 for 40 stands out on a day when every other bowler who sent down 10 overs conceded at least 54.

India's choice to field worked, though not in the way a captain usually intends. West Indies' innings was hurt most by wickets in the middle overs rather than by the new ball, and India's chase got easier the longer it went on. Kohli's 139 came with 94 runs in boundaries; on a slower or more awkward pitch, you do not hit nine sixes in 88 balls.

The Player of the Match award is a reminder of where this game was actually won. Kohli's innings will be replayed for years; Gill's hundred was the chase's spine. But at 135 for 0, West Indies were set for a total that would have made both of those innings harder, and it was Kuldeep who took that away. He removed both openers, including the centurion, then the captain and the incoming batter, and his 10 overs, with a maiden, went for 40 on a day when runs were everywhere.

The two in two balls in the 36th over are the heart of it. Greaves, on 101 and set, lbw after India reviewed; Andrew, first ball, caught by Rohit. In a game of 595 runs, a wrist-spinner's two deliveries changed its shape more than anything else. Kohli's bat made the noise. Kuldeep's wrist wrote the result.

Our preview called the result correctly: we had India as clear favourites at home, and they won by eight wickets. We named Virat Kohli as India's player to watch and built the whole piece around his return, noting he needed 59 runs to reach 15,000 in ODIs and had never been dismissed at Greenfield. He made 139 not out from 88 balls, and he still has not been dismissed at this ground.

Other calls did not survive. Our West Indies player to watch was Jayden Seales, and we suggested a new-ball burst from Seales and Shamar Joseph could make the first hour competitive. Seales was economical at 7 overs for 32 but went wicketless, and Shamar Joseph did not appear on the scorecard. We singled out Shai Hope as the batter India would plan hardest for; he made 12, but it was Justin Greaves, mentioned only in passing as all-round balance, who made the hundred. Our tentative XI had Mohammed Siraj sharing the new ball; he did not feature, and Gurnoor Brar played. And our worry over Gill's elbow proved unfounded: he played and made 110. We said India's attack had the most to prove. On 135 for 0, it looked that way. By the 36th over, Kuldeep had answered the question.

India lead the three-match series 1-0, and the teams move to Guwahati for the 2nd ODI on September 30. India's batting could hardly have looked more settled; the question to carry forward is the seam attack, which went at more than six an over while the spinners held the game together.

West Indies must win in Guwahati to keep the series alive. They know now that their top order can take on India's attack — 135 without loss is proof of that. What they need is the middle overs: someone to stay with the set batter when Kuldeep comes on, and a bowling plan that can take more than two wickets when India bat.