After the two match Test series debacle, the focus shifted to white ball cricket for both the teams. Amidst good hype for the limited overs, Indian captain Virat Kohli won the toss and decided to field first. The pitch was a belter and the ball was coming on the bat nicely.
Batting first, Windies didn't disappoint one bit, opener Kieran Powell continued his fine form from red ball cricket. He scored a quick fire 39 ball fifty to set the tone for innings. The debutant Chandrapaul Hemraj couldn't make the most. The experienced campaigner Marlon Samuels bagged a duck in his 200th ODI for Windies. It was Shimron Hetmyer who stood tall and scored a dominant century. He played shots all around the ground, put pressure on Indian bowlers and raced away to his 3rd ODI hundred.
Windies did find themselves in trouble at 252/7 after a flourishing start. But it was captain Jason Holder (38), Devendra Bishoo (22*), and Kemar Roach (26*) who helped Windies to post a solid score of 322 on the board.
In reply, Shikhar Dhawan dragged one onto his stumps trying to punch on the backfoot. But then it was all the Virat Kohli-Rohit Sharma show. Both played gorgeous shots, rotated the strike well to put up a 246 run partnership for the second wicket.
Kohli demoralized the opposition oozing all class in his sublime century which is number 36 in the ODIs. On the other hand, Rohit started slow but reached his 20th hundred soon after Kohli. It was a matter of time, India closing the game. Ambati Rayudu joined Rohit to finish the game comprehensively in the end.
Here are the player ratings for the match:
West Indies
1. Kieran Powell (6/10)
He started the match well for the Windies and dominated the power play scoring a good half-century. But failed to make it big on a batting-friendly surface.
2. Chandrapaul Hemraj (2/10)
The debutant looked promising at the start with quality stroke-making ability but dragged one onto his stumps from Shami. He made a mere 9 runs.
3. Shai Hope (5/10)
He is indeed the most talented player in this young Windies set up. He started off cautiously and played some quality strokes on his way to well compiled 32. But threw it away attempting to pull a bouncer from Shami. His inability to convert his innings into big ones is hurting Windies. He also affected a good stumping of Kohli.
4. Marlon Samuels (0/10)
Frankly, he deserved no rating today. Being one of the most experienced guys in this setup and playing his 200th ODI, Samuels never turned up to the occasion. He was out for a duck and was poor in the fielding as well.
5. Rovman Powell ( 3/10)
When Windies lost quick wickets, more was expected from Powell to stitch a partnership along with Shimron Hetmyer. It was all going well but Powell decided to take charge and lost his leg stump in his attempt to slog Jadeja. He made only 22 runs.
6. Shimron Hetmyer (8.5/10)
The young man from Guyana is a very talented player in this team. From the start, he looked to dominate every bowler and never let anybody settle. He played free-flowing strokes all around the park to reach his 3rd ODI hundred. He should have carried on to help Windies post a 350+ total but gave his wicket to accelerate the innings.
7. Jason Holder (7/10)
The captain made a handy contribution with the bat making 38 runs and also was economical of all the bowlers in a run feast. He needed support from another end as well to make an impact with the ball. Sadly it wasn't meant to be today.
8. Ashley Nurse (2/10)
Playing the role of a batting all-rounder in the team, a lot was expected from Nurse. He scored 2 runs with the bat and was too costly with the ball for his team. His economy rate in the match was never below 8.
9. Devendra Bishoo (5/10)
Batted sensibly at the death with his partner Kemar Roach to add 40 more runs to the board. His contribution of 22 helped Windies to cross 300 in the end. A lot could have been done with his bowling but he had no answer like any other bowler for Kohli onslaught. Finally did manage to get Kohli out stumped with a good ball.
10. Kemar Roach (4/10)
Batted well with Bishoo to contribute 26 runs for the 9th wicket. Bowled well in the first powerplay with good control but was not effective because he failed to take wickets.
11. Oshane Thomas (4/10)
He was another young debutant for Windies today. He is very quick in his pace and accounted for Shikhar Dhawan early in the Indian innings. He bowled with good gas upfront but tapered off towards the end. He will definitely learn a lot.
India
1. Shikhar Dhawan (2/10)
Disappointing with the bat on a good batting surface. He was looking in good touch in his first boundary but dragged one onto his stumps. He did manage to take a catch during fielding.
2. Rohit Sharma (10/10)
The last few years have been simply brilliant for Rohit Sharma with the bat. He has been super consistent of late with the bat. Starting off slowly, taking his time to get into the groove and then scoring effortlessly. The trademark Rohit Sharma style. He scored a match-winning unbeaten 152 runs to help India win the match by 8 wickets.
3. Virat Kohli (9.5/10)
Here is another batting masterclass. It all started with him after the early dismissal of Dhawan. He looked confident from the word Go! Never looked back. Played some super classy strokes to all parts of the ground and helped himself to his 36th ODI century. He couldn't finish the match for India but brought them closer with his 140 run contribution.
4. Ambati Rayudu (4/10)
India has entrusted Rayudu at the number 4 position and today it was no big test for Rayudu as the bulk of the scoring was done by the skipper and Rohit. But still, he remained unbeaten till the end with his 22 runs.
5. MS Dhoni (No rating)
As Dhoni didn't get to bat, he can't be rated. Though he was good behind the wickets and took a catch to dismiss Shai Hope.
6. Rishabh Pant (No rating)
Pant also was played a specialist batsman who didn't get to bat on his debut match for India.
7. Ravindra Jadeja ( 4/10)
Didn't get to bat but was impressive with the ball. He accounted for 2 key wickets of Hetmyer and Rovman Powell. He ended his quota of 10 overs with an economy of 6.6.
8. Yuzvendra Chahal (7/10)
Once again the leggie was very impressive with the ball in this match. He was hit for runs in the initial overs but came back strongly to take 3 wickets and ended his 10 overs with an economy of 4.1.
9. Khaleel Ahmed (4/10)
The promising left-arm pacer Khaleel couldn't impress today but he did help his team to break the partnership of Shai Hope and Kieran Powell. He got the wicket of the latter and provided a much-needed breakthrough for India when things were going well for Windies. His figures read 10-0-64-1
10. Umesh Yadav (3/10)
After a long time, Umesh Yadav had made a comeback to the Indian side in ODI format. He was economical in his initial overs but went for too many runs in his second and third spell. He remained wicketless. He was unlucky at the death overs though he executed his yorkers well.
11. Mohammad Shami ( 4/10)
The senior bowler was back into ODI set up after a long gap. He did manage to pick up 2 wickets but had no control over his bowling. He was very costly in us 10 overs and gave away 81 runs.
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