The Men in Blue kicked off their home series in dominant fashion at the Greenfield International Stadium, cruising to an eight-wicket victory over the West Indies.
Choosing to field first, India’s seamers failed to make early breakthroughs as the West Indies openers put up a 135-run partnership. Player of the Match Kuldeep Yadav sparked the comeback by breaking the opening stand and ended with excellent figures of 4 for 40 in 10 overs. Prasidh Krishna picked up two late wickets (2/60), while Nitish Kumar Reddy contributed with one wicket. Despite losing 82 runs in the final 10 overs, allowing the West Indies to approach 300, India’s middle-overs pressure was critical in keeping the target modest.
Chasing a target of 296, India demonstrated overwhelming domination, winning by eight wickets with 50 balls to spare. Rohit Sharma (32) and Shubman Gill set an aggressive tone with a 74-run opening partnership in 12 overs. Gill anchored the early phase with a fluent 110 from 108 balls, but Virat Kohli‘s (139*) masterpiece ended the chase. Kohli came in early in the innings, and yet the chase master batted with amazing determination. In his knock, he scored 10 fours and 9 sixes to finish the game in style with Ruturaj Gaikwad.
The Caribbean team compiled a challenging 295/7 in 50 overs, led by a magnificent 135-run opening partnership between John Campbell (62) and Justin Greaves, who scored his first ODI century (101). However, the middle order struggled against spin, losing five wickets for only 63 runs. Down the order, Roston Chase‘s late flourish (24) and Amir Jangoo’s (58*) undefeated half-century helped take the total above 290. Despite the good score, skipper Shai Hope revealed after the match that they fell 60-80 runs short as they failed to completely capitalise on their platform.
Defending 295 on a decent batting surface required early strikes, but the West Indian bowling outfit failed to apply pressure. Jayden Seales and Matthew Forde were economical early on but failed to break through. Alzarri Joseph took Rohit’s early wicket but suffered the brunt of Kohli’s attack, finishing with 1/81 in 9 overs. Roston Chase claimed the only other wicket, taking out Gill (1/64), but with Gudakesh Motie wicketless, the attack lacked the penetration required to stop India’s top order.
With this result, India are 1-0 up in the series.
Scorecard:
West Indies: 295/7, Overs 50, Justin Greaves 101, Kuldeep Yadav 4/40
India: 300/2, Overs 41.4, Virat Kohli 139*, Roston Chase 1/64
