PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad // India rode on career-best figures of from leg-spinner Amit Mishra and a stroke-filled 81 from Virat Kohli to beat West Indies by seven wickets in the second one-day international on Wednesday.
The victory, on the Duckworth/Lewis system, gave India a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.
West Indies, sent in at Queen's Park Oval, was restricted to 240 for nine off 50 overs as they wasted half centuries from Lendl Simmons (53) and Ramnaresh Sarwan (56).
Mishra was ably supported by paceman Munaf Patel (3-35) and Yusuf Pathan, who took two for 51 with his part-time offspin.
India lost an early wicket but Kohli (81 off 103 balls) and Parthiv Patel (56 off 64) charted a victory course in a second-wicket stand of 120 in 24 overs.
The visitors were stalled by an 80-minute rain interruption that brought a revised target of 183 off 37 overs. But they coasted to victory with 20 balls to spare at 183 for three off 33.4 overs.
Kohli struck six fours and a six while Patel lashed two fours and two sixes.
Captain Suresh Raina hit the winning runs on his way to an unbeaten 26 off 19 deliveries.
Man of the match Kohli said he was determined to make up for a cheap dismissal in the series opener.
"In the last game, I played a loose shot and was disappointed with myself," he admitted. "I picked it up this game and was really determined to score some runs.
"We needed to chase down a decent total on this kind of wicket. It becomes slower in the second half. We needed some kind of batting effort and Parthiv played amazingly as well."
Earlier, openers Simmons and Kirk Edwards showed positive intent in getting West Indies off to an encouraging start.
The pair added 57 off 12.1 overs before Edwards was undone by a ripping leg-break from Mishra and edged to the wicketkeeper Patel. Edwards struck three fours and a six in 25 off 28 balls.
Simmons and Sarwan kept West Indies on course with a second-wicket stand of 67.
Simmons reached his fifth half-century in his last six one-day innings but again failed to press on. The right-hander, who lashed three fours and two sixes off 84 deliveries, was stumped off a leg-side wide from Pathan.
Sarwan and Marlon Samuels further lifted the home team's spirits by adding 51.
Samuels batted with authority in rushing to 34 off 32 balls with three fours and a six.
But once the Jamaican, trying to swing over the leg side, was a second stumping victim off Pathan at 175-3, the innings subsided swiftly.
Sarwan reached his second straight 50, with a crunching pull off Praveen Kumar, but fell when well set. The Guyanese, who hit three fours off 90 balls, swatted a full toss from Munaf straight to deep backward square leg.
Mishra (4-31) then sliced through the lower middle order as Kieron Pollard was lbw for a duck, Dwayne Bravo (8) holed out to long-off and Carlton Baugh (2) was bowled by a googly as the innings slipped to 197 for seven.
Captain Darren Sammy (22 not out) and Ravi Rampaul restored some respectability by adding 31 for the eighth wicket.
Sammy lashed two sixes and a four off 19 deliveries.
Munaf returned towards the end to claim Rampaul and Devendra Bishoo in the 49th over.
India's reply stuttered early as Rampaul removed Shikhar Dhawan (3) when he slapped a square cut straight to backward point.
But Patel and Kohli quickly consolidated with some fluent strokeplay in an assured association.
Kohli went past 2,000 runs in one-dayers and passed his 50 off 78 balls with four boundaries.
A heavy rain burst that caught groundstaff napping stalled the visitors for more than an hour but they continued their victory charge on resumption.
Patel quickly achieved his half century before he got a thin edge for a leg side catch off legspinner Devendra Bishoo at 128 for two.
Kohli and Raina steadied any nerves by adding 45 off 29 balls to seal the result.
Kohli fell with 10 runs remaining but Raina stayed until the end to hit the winning runs.
The third match in the five-match series is in Antigua on Saturday.
sports@thenational.ae
