India vs West Indies, first ODI: Reasons for WI's loss in the first ODI

India continued their domination over Windies as they chased down the target of 322 runs with more than seven overs to spare. Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma scored magnificent tons as they smashed the Windies bowlers all over the park. On a hot afternoon in Guwahati, India won the toss and asked Windies to bat first.

Shimron Hetmyer scored a stroke-filled 100 of just 74 balls, which helped Windies to put up a good total on board. He had a personal liking for Ravindra Jadeja as he smashed the left-arm spinner for 42 runs of his bowling.

Yuzvendra Chahal was the pick of the bowlers for the Indian team with 3 crucial wickets. He varied his pace to extract spin on a flat deck and it paid rich dividends.

After a drubbing in test series, Windies were expected to give a tough fight in the ODI series, but their fortune did not change as they succumbed to another loss against Kohli's eleven.

Let us look at the reasons why Windies lost the first ODI in Guwahati.

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Lack of big partnerships

Shimron Hetmyer played a superb knock (Image credits: BCCI)

Windies had a good start in the powerplay despite losing debutant Chandrapaul Hemraj for just nine runs. They scored at a good run rate of 6 per over but kept losing wickets at regular intervals.

Kieran Powell and Shai Hope started off well by attacking the leggie Yuzvendra Chahal right from the start. But as soon as Khaleel Ahmed was brought into the attack, he broke the partnership and the Windies further lost two more wickets in the space of six overs.

This trend continued during the middle overs as Shimron Hetmyer and Rovman Powell were threatening to take the score beyond 350, but Powell’s poor shot selection gave India more than a sniff to come back into the game.

Skipper Jason Holder looked good for his 38 but he was bowled around the legs, trying to sneak a single off the bowling of Chahal. If the Windies had one big partnership they could have scored another 30 to 40 runs, which could have been decisive as India’s lower middle order isn’t in the greatest of batting form.

Domination of Indian Spinners

India's success post the Champions Trophy 2017 has been largely due to their ability to pick up wickets in the middle overs with Yuzvendra Chahal & Kuldeep Yadav being the main contributors.

Although Kuldeep Yadav missed out today, Yuzvendra Chahal was aided by the comeback man Ravindra Jadeja. Although Jadeja was touch expensive he picked up the crucial wickets of Hetmyer and Rovman Powell to dent the Windies batting line-up. Chahal was very good with his variation of pace after conceding boundaries in his initial few overs.

Windies lacked a proper game plan against the spinners, as they mostly intended on attacking them. Except for Hetmyer all the batsman tried to their hit their way out of trouble but ended up throwing their wickets away. Indian spinners have the best strike rate post-Champions trophy (2017) and they continued their good form on a pitch which offered less assistance.

Rohit-Kohli Show

It was yet another game that saw India's top order finish off with ease. This time it was India's Captain Virat Kohli and vice-captain Rohit Sharma that sealed the deal with a scintillating 246 run partnership.

Kohli & Rohit are No. 1 & No. 2 ICC ODI Ranked players respectively and they chased down the target of 322 without any trouble.

Both the batsman scored more runs than any other player post-Champions Trophy 2013 and this is a record of sorts. Windies bowlers were clueless despite having a huge total to defend.

It was a clinical batting performance and the crowd in Guwahati enjoyed the class of Kohli who brought up his 36th ODI 100, 14th as Captain in just 50 innings only behind to Ricky Ponting who has 22 tons in 220 innings.

On the other hand, Rohit Sharma with his lazy elegance brought up his 20th ODI 100 and his first ever against Windies.

Ineffective Windies Bowling

Windies bowling line-up was boosted by the comeback of Kemar Roach who had a decent outing during the World Cup qualifiers. But it hardly made any difference as the Indian batsman continued their dominance.

Debutant Oshane Thomas started off well by picking up the wicket of Shikhar Dhawan early in the innings. But due to poor line and lengths, he was smashed away to the boundaries by both Rohit and Virat.

Even Jason Holder looked ineffective, as the Indian batsman piled upon the misery. Except for Holder, all the Windies bowlers had an economy rate of more than 7 per over.

Even the spinners in the likes of Devendra Bishoo and Ashley Nurse were ineffective in trying to control the run rate. Devendra Bishoo, who is considered to be their current best spinner was lacklustre as he conceded at more than 7 per over and overstepped twice in his 10 over spell.