India skipper Virat Kohli and deputy Rohit Sharma sent the West Indies bowlers on a leather hunt in Guwahati on Sunday. While Kohli was the aggressor, Rohit preferred to play second fiddle as India chased down the target of 323 with 47 balls to spare. The duo put on 246 for the second wicket and teammate Yuzvendra Chahal feels that the way Kohli and Rohit bat at times, it is almost like they are playing PS4.

“We enjoy watching them (Rohit and Kohli) bat, they are two legends of the game, (smiles) at times we feel they are playing PS4,” he said.

Commenting on his own performance on a batsman-friendly wicket, Chahal said: “On this wicket, we needed to vary our pace, we have to guess what the batsman is doing and bowl according to that. They (West Indies batsmen) were looking to hit sixes, so I didn’t want to bowl the fuller ball. They are strong guys, need to bowl slower in the air, it’s different when the ball spins.”

Chahal finished with figures of 3/41 from his 10 overs and even though his spin partner Ravindra Jadeja was slightly more expensive (2/66 from his 10), the leg-spinner said that they look to complement each other. “I played with Jaddu bhai in the Asia Cup, I told him that he could bowl slower on this wicket, we always talk with each other, even with Kuldeep, we make a good trio,” he said.

Kohli marched to his 36th career ODI century, his 22nd in chase, to help India script a resounding eight-wicket victory over West Indies in the first of five ODIs. Kohli had walked into bat after India had lost an early wicket, of Shikhar Dhawan, to West Indies’ new pace find Oshane Thomas. The right-arm pacer was bowling in the high-140s and his pace saw Dhawan chopping the ball on to his stumps. India were 10 for one. Kohli took on the youngster, as India extracted 36 runs off his first four overs.

On a belter of a wicket, with Rohit playing perfect foil, Kohli raced to his half-century off 35 balls to take the wind out of Windies’ sails. By the time he was on 78, Rohit had reached 35 and India were well on course.

First Published: Oct 22, 2018 13:38 IST