Captain Rohit led from the front as India opened winning account by crushing West Indies by six wickets in their historic 1000th ODI match in Ahmedabad on Sunday (February 6). Despite coming from a humiliating 0-3 whitewash in the South Africa series, India fought back to kick off Rohit era with their first victory of the year across all formats.
After wrapping West Indies to a below par target of 177 with the help of Yuzvendra Chahal's top notch 4/49, the newly appointed white-ball skipper Rohit smashed a blistering 60 off 51 to engineer his side to the victory line.
Rohit and Ishan gave India a solid start as they together stitched a partnership of 84 runs in which the latter contributed with 28 off 36 before being removed by Akeal Hosein. Rohit, who made a comeback to the team after an injury, was brutal on veteran Kemar Roach, hitting him for two fours and a maximum – his trademark pull shot, as India fetched 15 runs off the 10th over and raced to 67/0. By the time Alzarri Joseph (2/45) trapped him leg-before, India were on their way towards an easy win in a milestone game.
Virat Kohli (8) also started with two boundaries but was holed out in the deep while Rishabh Pant was unfortunately run-out at the non-striker's end. In the middle, India batters fumbled but soon after Suryakumar Yadav (34 no) and debutant Deepak Hooda (26 no) added 62 runs without toiling much to take the team home.
Earlier, Jason Holder pulled his side out of the jolt of 79 for 7, but the Men in Blues still rallied to restrict West Indies to 176 in the series opener on a pitch that offered turn to their two spinners. The returning Washington Sundar paired with Chahal to share seven wickets among themselves to wreak havoc on Caribbean's batting. Sundar put up a show with a brilliant spell of 3/30 while Chahal achieved a feat of scalping 100 ODI wickets. Meanwhile fast bowlers also created an impact where Prasidh Krishna dazzled with an impressive spell of 2/29 and Mohammed Siraj returned with a spell of 1/26.
The second ODI will be played at the same venue on February 9.
India's full squad: Rohit Sharma (captain), Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant(wicket-keeper), Deepak Hooda, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul, Avesh Khan, Prasidh Krishna and Washington Sundar.
West Indies' full squad: Shai Hope (wicketkeeper), Brandon King, Nicholas Pooran, Shamarh Brooks, Darren Bravo, Kieron Pollard (captain), Jason Holder, Fabian Allen, Romario Shepherd, Odean Smith, Alzarri Joseph, Akeal Hosein, Hayden Walsh, Kemar Roach and Nkrumah Bonner.
