Captain Shubman Gill hit an unbeaten 223 as India recorded the second-highest ODI chase of all time on Wednesday to beat the West Indies by eight wickets and clinch the series.

West Indies posted 405-7 after three centuries in the innings, but India rode on a 255-run opening stand between Gill and Rohit Sharma (101) to achieve the target with 39 balls to spare in Guwahati as they took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.

South Africa hold the record successful run chase in men’s ODI cricket, scoring 438-9 against Australia in Johannesburg in 2006.

India’s previous best chase was 362 against Australia in Jaipur in 2019.

Gill, who hit 110 in the opening win, went past his previous ODI best of 208 and reached his second double ton in 117 balls for the fastest 200 in ODI history.

He hit 26 fours and eight sixes in his 133-ball knock.

Both Gill and veteran opener Rohit came out roaring after the Indian bowlers took a beating on the batting-friendly pitch.

“No matter how good the wicket is, no matter how small the ground is, chasing 400 is never easy,” said player-of-the-match Gill.

“So, very pleased with the performance and very happy that I was able to stay till the end and finish the game for the team.”

Rohit power

Rohit, despite being 39, is looking ahead to the 2027 ODI World Cup and made his intent clear from the start, hitting Alzarri Joseph for two fours and a six in the second over.

Gill reached his second successive hundred with a four off Joseph and soon Rohit raised his 35th ODI ton to the delight of a nearly-packed stadium filled with blue Indian jerseys.

Rohit, who crossed 12,000 ODI runs during the knock, fell lbw off Jayden Seales and walked off with 10 fours and six sixes in his 75-ball blitz.

His departure sent Virat Kohli to the crease, but the star player was out on 29 much to the disappointment of fans.

Gill stood firm and along with Ruturaj Gaikwad, who made an unbeaten 31, the pair eased India towards victory.

Earlier, John Campbell hit 101 to lay the foundations for West Indies’ highest-ever ODI score and better their previous best of 389 against England.

They ended up losing that game too.

Skipper Shai Hope (104) and Amir Jangoo (114) also struck centuries to boost the total.

“There was a lot of positives I can take from it, to be honest. We, as a batting group, we’ve been putting up a lot of consistent competitive totals,” said Hope.

“So that’s one tick that you can put. But yeah, obviously, when you come up against some of the greatest batters in the world, the margin for error is so slim.”

Left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav struck twice to reach 200 ODI wickets.

The third match is on Saturday in New Chandigarh.