Match Details
From the
West Indies’ bowlers’ point of view, Akeal Hosein was the pick of the bowlers
with his figures reading 1-14 in 4 overs. A couple of wickets for the debutant
Alzarri Joseph but he went for 46 runs. A wicket apiece for Obed McCoy (1-30),
Jason Holder (1-50), and Keemo Paul (1-24 in 2 overs). Odean Smith went
wicketless in his 2 overs for 18 runs.
A comprehensive 68-run win for India gives them a 1-0 lead in the 5-match series. Stick around for the post-match presentation ceremony that comes your way shortly.
Arya- It was a stiff target for West Indies and they needed a quickfire start to their innings in order to chase down the target of 191. They began in an impressive fashion with both Kyle Mayers and Shamrah Brooks finding boundaries in the very first over of Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Mayers continued on the rampage and powered Arshdeep Singh for a six and a four in the next over before Arshdeep came back roaring and had the last laugh. He dug one onto the surface and Mayers wasn’t sure whether to go with the shot or leave and in the end did neither and gave an easy catch for the midwicket fielder.
It was a much-needed wicket for India as West Indies had got off to a flyer. Jason Holder was promoted up the order to take the bowlers on, in the powerplay. However, the ploy didn’t work as he exposed all three stumps by making too much of room and Ravindra Jadeja got the ball to grip and it turned away from Holder and clattered onto the stumps.
Brooks looked good but was castled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar in his comeback over. It was an off-pace delivery on a length and Brooks wanted to pick that up and deposit that over the midwicket fence. However, there was a huge gap between bat and pad and the ball sneaked through to disturb the timbers. It was a great start for India and from there on, West Indies needed to play catch up, unless their skipper Nicholas Pooran did something extraordinary.
Ravichandran Ashwin was a bit expensive in his first over but came back strongly in his last three overs as West Indies were tangled down and India kept chipping away with the wickets on a consistent basis. Just when Nicholas Pooran managed to get going, he was dismissed by Ashwin with a delivery that came into the left-hander but looked like an off-break which will turn away. Pooran tried to steer that down the third man region and ended up getting a faint edge which was taken very well by Pant.
Rovman Powell also had a short stay at the crease as he was castled by Ravi Bishnoi on the very first delivery of his spell. It was a flatter trajectory googly which came into the right-hander and Powell ended up playing all over it and lost his stumps in the process. The wickets kept tumbling one after the other as Ashwin then sent Hetmyer back to the pavilion. The man who was making a comeback in this encounter tried to up the ante but lifted that straight down the throat of the wide long-off fielder.
Bishnoi added one more in his next over as Odean Smith came charging down the track and swung wildly. He couldn’t make contact and Rishabh Pant had all the time in the world to dislodge the stumps. There was nothing West Indies could have done from there on. They played through the motions towards the end of the encounter as India romped home by 68 runs.