Chasing 322, India lost the first game of the five-match ODI series against West Indies by 124 runs at the Nehru Stadium in Kochi. An all round performance by Marlon Samuels, who set up the match in the tourists favour with 126* returned to claim 2/10 to help his team to take a 1-0 lead in the series.
After the loss of Dwayne Bravo with 34 runs on the board, Dwayne Smith set the momentum for the visitors’ innings in a 64-run stand with Darren Smith. Taking over from Samuels, Smith built a 165-run partnership for the fourth wicket with Denesh Ramdin to lay the foundation for a formidable target.
India got off to a good start with Ajinkya Rahane taking on the bowling but a mix up resulting in his run-out sent the team downhill. India didn’t recover from the unfortunate end of the 49-run opening stand and lost wickets in a heap. Although Dhawan strove to hold the innings together, he found little support from the other end and his resistance too ended for 68 leaving India on 134/6. The hosts were eventually bowled out for 197.
After two quiet overs, Ajinkya Rahane pulled Jerome Taylor for a couple of boundaries to set India on course for the target. With Jerome Taylor inducing an edge off Virat Kohli’s willow to Sammy in the slips, India were 55/2.
27 runs later, Ambati Rayudu hit Russell to Sulieman Benn at mid-on and departed for 13. In the next over the WI captain crashed Suresh Raina’s stumps to leave India on 83/4.
Facing a mammoth target, MS Dhoni came out to face the WI attack, but India’s woes continued as he was castled by Sammy after contributing just eight runs.
Three and a half overs later, Dhawan missed a sweep off Samuels and was bowled. With the innings tottering on 134/6 Bhuvneshwar joined Jadeja in the middle and was dismissed in the next over. Mishra was next, trapped leg before by Dwayne Bravo. Ravi Rampaul removed Mohit and 42 runs later yorked Shami to wrap up the Indian innings.
Earlier, opening the bowling with Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohit Sharma conceded 11 runs off his first over. The medium pacer was struck for two boundaries by Dwayne Bravo, who a bit later meted out similar treatment to Mohammed Shami.
Shami gave India their first break through when a fuller delivery took the edge off Dwayne Bravo’s bat and was caught Shikhar Dhawan at first slip.
Darren Bravo was caught by Dhawan off Amit Mishra. Denesh Ramdin then came to the crease and joined hands with Samuels. Taking his time to settle in Samuels blunted the Indian attack as he took his team to a position of strength. While watchfully crafting his innings he took the attack to the bowlers when presented with the opportunity. He hit Amit Mishra for back-to-back sixes on either side of the wicket and a couple of overs later hit Raina for a six to bring up his half-century.
Having played themselves in and taken West Indies to a comfortable 188/3 in 35 overs, the batsmen accelerated in the powerplay. Ramdin smashed a no ball from Shami for six over point and then added four off the free hit that followed. In the next over, Bhuvneshwar’s last, the pair claimed a boundary each as they picked nine runs off it. And with Jadeja conceding extras in form of wides they collected 52 runs from the batting powerplay.
The partnership continued to flourish and Ramdin brought up his fifty with a single to midwicket off Mohit; while Samuels picked a run off Jadeja in the next to post his century.
With just three wickets lost, the tourists were comfortably placed to accelerate in the last five overs until Ramdin perished in the 46th over. The middle-order batsman, swung at a Shami delivery and found Jadeja at long-on.
In the bowler’s next over, he accounted for Kieron Pollard and Andre Russell. But, Sammy ensured that there were no more lapses and with Samuels took the team to a big total.
Man of the Match: Marlon Samuels for unbeaten 126 (116 balls) and 2 for 10 in three overs.
