Cricket Highlights, 28 July: West Indies vs India (1st ODI)

West Indies vs India (1st ODI)

The visiting India had to struggle to get a win despite the host West Indies being bowled out for just 114 runs. Ishan Kishan alone scored 52 runs, but they lost 5 wickets to make the remaining 63 runs. India cruised to a 5-wicket victory in the first ODI of the series against the West Indies in Barbados on Thursday (July 27).

Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja played a big role with the ball in India’s victory. Kuldeep scalped the maximum number of 4 wickets for 6 runs in just 3 overs. He bowled 2 maiden overs on the day. As a result, he was also selected as the player of the match. On the other hand, Jadeja took the second-highest 3 wickets conceding 37 runs in 6 overs.  

Indian captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and decided to field first. Shardul Thakur picked up wickets for the Men in Blues in the beginning. After that, the Caribbeans lost 3 wickets within 45 runs under the attack of Hardik Pandya and the debutant Mukesh Kumar. Captain Shai Hope and Shimron Hetmyer tried to take charge of the team in the fourth wicket. But Jadeja did not allow them to make a pair of more than 43 runs.

At the end of 15 overs, the hosts scored 88 runs for 3 wickets. From that position, the Caribbean’s innings ended after scoring 114 runs in 23 overs. In other words, the last 7 wickets of the host team fell down to score just 26 runs. The two spinners Jadeja and Kuldeep attacked the Caribbeans from both sides.

After the fall of the fourth wicket for 88 runs, something unexpected on the innings of the Caribbeans. Jadeja bowled Hetmyer (11), who returned to the ODI team after two long years, in the 16th over of the innings. This Indian spinner hunted a pair in his next over. He quickly sent back Rovman Powell (4) and Romario Shepherd (0) to the dressing room.

Then Kuldeep did the work of trimming the tail off. He kept taking one wicket after another. Hope was playing alone at the end. As the ninth batter, Kuldeep also showed him the way to the dressing room. Hope got lbw scoring 43 off 45 balls. Apart from that, 22 runs from 18 balls came from the bat of Alick Athanaze.  

Skipper Rohit did not open the innings after getting an easy target. He gave opportunities to the others in the team. Shubman Gill and Ishan started the innings for the team. Ishan scored 52 runs, but Shubman got out with just 7 runs. He was caught at slip while playing the ball outside the off stump.

Suryakumar Yadav played in place of Virat Kohli at number three but could not score well. He returned to the pavilion after scoring 19 runs off 25 balls. Hardik, who came down at number four, was unlucky. Bowler Yannic Cariah went to grab a catch of Ishan, but he failed. However, the ball hit his hands and broke the wicket towards the non-striker. Hardik tried to return but could not place the bat on the ground. He got out for just 5 runs.

Then an opportunity came to Shardul. Going down to bat at number five, he got out for just one run. In the end, Rohit confirmed the victory with Jadeja. Jadeja remained unbeaten on 16 runs and Rohit on 12 runs.

Gudakesh Motie took the highest number of 2 wickets for West Indies. Besides Jayden Seales and Yannic Cariah took 1 wicket each. The second match of the three-match series will be played next Saturday (July 29). After that, the last match will be held after a break of two days.

West Indies vs India Scoreboard

West Indies – 114/10 (23.0)

India – 118/5 (22.5)

Result – India won by 5 wickets

Player of the match – Kuldeep Yadav

Ishan Kishan

West Indies vs India Playing Xis