The terrific troika of Kudeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja and Ishan Kishan helped India thrash West Indies in the first ODI at the Kensington Oval in Barbados on Thursday (July 27). While Kuldeep, Jadeja spun a web around Caribbean batters and skittled them for a measly 114, which was West Indies' lowest ODI total against India. Ishan Kishan then cracked a fifty and Rohit's brigade comfortably chased down the target with five wickets and 163 balls to spare.
Meanwhile, India skipper Rohit headlined the first ODI for two reasons. During India's bowling Shardul Thakur gave Rohit tough time on the field and then he left everyone surprised for demoting himself and Virat Kohli in batting order.
In the 19th over of the West Indies' innings, Shardul was too sluggish while fielding which left Rohit fuming over him. Angry Rohit was seen hurling mouthful after Shardul's lazy fielding at the mid-off which allowed West Indies captain Shai Hope steal an extra run during Kuldeep's first over.
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However, that didn't make much difference to the West Indies' batting woes as they were bundled out for a lowly 114, thanks to Kuldeep's brilliant spell of 4/6. Jadeja too chipped in with an impressive 3/37. And the rest was done by Kishan, who came to open India's innings in place of Rohit and proved his skipper's decision right. Kishan belted 52 off 46 riding on seven fours and a maximum.
With this India 1-0 up in the three-match ODI series.
"I never thought the pitch would play like that, it was the team's need to bowl first and have a score. The pitch had everything for the seamers and spinners, our guys did well to restrict them to that score. We wanted to give game time to the ODI guys who have come in, we will keep trying those things whenever possible." Rohit said after the match.
Indian skipper was also full of praise for debutant Mukesh Kumar and Ishan Kishan. While Mukesh bowled an impressive spell of 1/22, Kishan cracked a robust fifty.
“Mukesh was brilliant, he can swing the ball at a good pace. Good to see what he can offer, haven’t seen him much in domestic cricket. No matter the conditions, we need to bowl in the right areas to restrict them and I thought our bowlers did brilliantly. And then Ishan was good with the bat as well,” Rohit concluded.
MORE ON SPORTS TAK:
West Indies batters fail to cut-through spin web as India register their biggest ODI win on Caribbean soil
Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja combine to create ODI cricket history for India
