Photo: BCCI/Hotstar

When he reached his century against West Indies in the second ODI at Vishakapatnam on Wednesday, KL Rahul took off his helmet, let go of his bat, closed his eyes and used his hands to indicate that he was plugging his ears to shut off the noise.

"I'll let it stay a mystery," said KL Rahul when he was asked what the celebration was about.

What was clear, however, was the 27-year-old opener had played another solid knock to notch up his third ton on his career.

Opening the innings with Rohit Sharma after being put in to bat, KL Rahul was the more aggressive of the two, hitting his first boundary off the fifth delivery he faced and then kept sending the ball to the ropes, hitting Sheldon Cottrell for two boundaries in his third over.

The Kings XI Punjab batsman in the VIVO Indian Premier League averaged at least a boundary every over and his batting also rubbed off on Rohit Sharma, who started to pull off his trademark shots after a sketchy start.

KL Rahul was severe on both spinners and pacers, bringing up his half-century in 46 balls with a single off left-arm spinner Khary Pierre. The duo brought up their 100-run stand in style in the 21st over, as Rohit Sharma dispatched Alzarri Joseph for a four.

After a boundary-less couple of overs, KL Rahul cut loose hitting two consecutive fours off Joseph in the same over. His scoring rate dropped a bit when he reached the seventies as the Windies pulled things back with a few controlled overs during the middle part of the innings.

During this phase, Rohit Sharma overtook KL Rahul with some scintillating shots, reaching his hundred before the latter, in 107 balls.

"KL batted well, he allowed me to take my time," said Rohit Sharma, who went on to score a 138-ball 159. "KL is such a talent when you watch him from the opposite end... We can take a lot of confidence from how we created that partnership."

However, the KXIP lad was not to be left too far behind. He ambled along to 97 off 101 balls and finally brought up his third ODI century with a glance down to the fine-leg boundary, and celebrated the milestone by cupping his hands on his ears.

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KL Rahul eventually lost his wicket to Alzarri Joseph for a well-made 102 off 104 balls with eight fours and three sixes as the opening partnership was broken for 227, India's the fourth-highest opening partnership.

"I got the opportunity to bat up the order in a place where I'm comfortable. It's where I feel I can play my best," KL Rahul said. "Just wanted to make it count. I'm very clear about what I have to do, what role I play and I just want to do my best."

India eventually ended up posting a huge 387-5 on the board, courtesy some late hitting from Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer and Kedar Jadhav.

With Mohammed Shami's three wickets and Kuldeep Yadav's hat-trick, India went on to win the match by 107 runs after they bundled out the visitors for 280, pillared by fifties from Shai Hope and Nicholas Pooran.

With the series level at 1-1, the decider will be played at Cuttack on Sunday.

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