Innings India 358 for 5 (Deol 115, Rawal 76, Mandhana 53, Rodrigues 52) vs West Indies

One of their best, Dendra Dottin, no less, put Deol down at square leg on 20. And Deol made them pay. She built slowly to a half-century, reaching there in 62 balls, but shifted gears seamlessly in the end overs to raise her century off 98 balls with a superb pick-up shot to the deep square leg boundary off Shamilia Connell.

In Rodrigues, she found an able ally as the pair put on a quick-fire 116-run stand off just 71 deliveries for the fourth wicket in a partnership where they attempted a shot every ball. This partnership came on the back of Harmanpreet Kaur's lapse when she was bowled attempting to sweep a tossed-up delivery after making a crisp 18-ball 22. As she walked back, the realisation that she had genuinely missed out on an opportunity to hurt West Indies in the death overs loomed.

Rodrigues made up for it, though. She was outstanding against spin, lofting inside-out over cover, paddling fired-in deliveries past short fine leg, or rocking back to pull. Along the way, she showed her versatility to accelerate as comfortably as she had built the innings. The reward was a half-century off 34 deliveries, before she was out attempting to hit out a waist-high full toss.

Deol fed off that energy, in addition to the confidence from spending time at the crease. In all, India scored 184 in the last 20 overs, compared to the 160 they hit two nights ago. That they achieved this with Richa Ghosh contributing just an unbeaten 13 should give them much encouragement.

Yet for all the late-order fireworks, the innings could have been so easily about Rawal, who looked anything like the nervous version from her debut on Sunday. She came out looking to score quickly. There wasn't much swing on offer, and Rawal impressed with some imperious shot-making, especially her manner of cover-driving and standing tall to punch on the up - attributes she showed in picking off Dottin for back-to-back fours in the fifth over. It may have even contributed to Dottin being taken off the attack after three wicketless overs.

At the other end, Mandhana, who became the highest run-getter in women's ODI this year, simply carried on from where she left off in the series opener. She displayed more than just traces of brute force in muscling spinners, especially Hayley Mathews. Barring the second, every over between overs one to 13 produced at least a boundary as the openers didn't allow the bowlers to settle.

Rawal was comfortably outscoring Mandhana until the eighth over, but it didn't take long for the India vice-captain to catch up, before overtaking her to raise a 29th half-century and her second straight of the series off just 44 balls. One ball later, the opening pair raised their second consecutive century stand.

It needed a terrible mix-up between the two for Mandhana to depart as both batters were nearly stranded at one end. Rawal even attempted to sacrifice her wicket, but Mandhana was so far ahead of her when the bails were whipped out by the wicketkeeper. As Mandhana started to walk back, she turned back to pat Rawal before heading back.

Rawal would soon raise her maiden half-century off 58 and up the gears to imperiously loft Karishma Ramharack for her first six, even as Deol overcame a slow start, with the dropped chance by Dottin the trigger for her to shift gears. For much of the afternoon, West Indies were under the pump. They will need Mathews and Dottin to play out of their skins to ensure it doesn't remain that way in the chase.