(Cricket news) India defeated West Indies by 6 wickets with 22 runs to spare. The men in blue managed to mark India's 1000th ODI with a dominant victory. Yuzvendra Chahal was named the player of the match for his 4/49 in 9.5 overs. Chahal also took his 100th ODI wicket in the process. It was also the beginning of the Rohit Sharma era as he captained India for the first time as permanent ODI captain.
After winning the toss Rohit Sharma elected to bowl first mainly because of the dew factor which makes bowling very difficult in the 2nd innings. West Indies were bowled out for just 176 runs with only Jason Holder crossing the 50 run mark. Indian bowlers proved to be too good for them. Mohammed Siraj got the first wicket in the form of Shai Hope. Chahal picked up 4 wickets while Washington Sundar and Prasidh Krishna got 3 and 2 scalps each.
Rohit Sharma captained the side exceedingly well as his bowling rotations and field placements worked out really well. His move to bring on Washington Sundar in the power play worked wonders as Sundar picked up 2 wickets in the 12th over itself. He also had 3 successful reviews which is always a positive sign. Virat Kohli pretty much looked involved in the game with his advice during DRS and with field changes as well which is incredible news for India.
The spinners were big positives in the innings. The pitch had a lot of turn even for Sundar who usually isn't a sharp turner of the ball. The finger spinner had a very successful comeback into the side but didn't get a chance to bat which will be a big part of his contributions in the future. Yuzvendra Chahal was the pick of the bowlers and had a visible change in style. He bowled a lot quicker through the air and would often bowl side-on to get the extra pace which paid off. He bowled a wonderful googly to clean bowl Kieron Pollard on his very first ball.
The Windies batters never looked set on the crease apart from Holder who scored a 57 off 71. The skipper Pollard perhaps made the biggest error as he tried to hard through the covers on his very first ball and was clean bowled by Chahal's wrong one. Fabian Allen also showed that he can be useful with the Willow as his 68 run partnership with Holder put a respectable total on board.
Indian batting didn't have much pressure as the target was a small one. Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan got off to a great start as the Indian skipper scored 60 runs off just 50 balls. Virat Kohli came in with the clear intention of scoring quick as he got 2 boundaries in his first 2 balls and crossed 5000 ODI runs in India in the process. He pulled the 4th ball and was caught at fine leg. Alzarri Joseph picked up the wickets of India's top 3 and also inflected Rishabh Pant's run-out. Surya Kumar Yadav and debutant Deepak Hooda were composed enough as they took India over the line.
India could wrap up the series in the next where there could be a few changes if any of the 3 COVID-19 positive players recovers. West Indies need to change their approach more than anything as they once again failed to bat 50 overs. The toss will once again be crucial because the dew in the 2nd innings will make the bowling extremely hard.
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