With 54 runs needed from five overs and four wickets remaining, West Indies were clearly on the backfoot against India in the first ODI on Friday. Romario Shepherd then made a contest out of it but the hosts still needed 15 from the last six deliveries.
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They managed 11 as Mohammed Siraj kept his cool with India winning by three runs to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. India captain Shikhar Dhawan admitted his team didn’t think West Indies will end up giving them such a close fight.
“There were nerves in the end and didn’t expect it to turn that way,” Dhawan said during the post-match presentation.
He then revealed how pushing the fine leg back and using the bigger boundary helped their cause. “We kept our cool and one small change in the end where we pushed the fine leg back and that really helped us. The discussion was to use the bigger side as much as we can and we want to keep on learning and make ourselves better for the rest of the competition,” he said.
Earlier, after being put in to bat first, India made a sparkling start with their opening pair of Dhawan and Shumban Gill stitching a century stand.
Gill was out after hitting 64 off 53 and Dhawan came agonisingly close to recording a century before holing out on 97.
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“Disappointed not to get the 100, but it was a good effort by the team. We good a good score in the end,” said Dhawan, who was chosen as the player-of-the-match for his display with the bat.
West Indies made a good recovery as India slipped from 213/1 to 252/5 before Deepak Hooda and Axar Patel dragged them to 308/7. Alzarri Joseph and Gudakesh Motie took a couple of wickets each.
In reply, West Indies’ batters Kyle Mayers and Brandon Kings struck fifties before Shepherd and Akeal Hosein nearly pulled them over the line.
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