The Indian team got off to a perfect start with a convincing 8 wicket win over West Indies in the first One day international played at Barasapara Stadium, Guwahati just finished a few minutes ago. Despite the West Indies batsmen scoring a big total, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli ensured that the hosts chased down the target with ease.
Indian captain Virat Kohli won the toss and decided to field first. Chanderpaul Hemraj and Kieron Powell provided a decent start for Windies adding 19 runs for the first wicket as Mohammad Shami dismissed Hemraj for 9. Powell looked in aggressive touch attacking the Indian pace bowlers. At the end of 10 overs, West Indies scored 59 for 1. After the power play overs, Powell attacked Indian bowlers and reached his half-century off 36 balls.
Khaleel Ahmed dismissed Powell for 51. Both Powell and Shai Hope added 65 runs for the 2nd wicket. Yuzvendra Chahal got the wicket of Marlon Samuels to put West Indies under pressure at 86 for 3. Hetymer played with positive intent putting pressure on the Indian bowlers. Shami dismissed Hope for 32. Hetymer reached his half-century off 41 balls and continued to pile pressure with his big hitting. Hetymer and Powell added 74 runs for the 5th wicket. Hetymer made the batting look easy with aggressive stroke play scoring his century off 74 balls. Captain Holder and Hetymer added 60 runs for the 6th wicket. Hetymer was dismissed for 106.
The Indian bowlers kept picking wickets to put West Indies under pressure at 278 for 8. Roach and Bishop added 44 unbeaten runs for the 9th wicket. West Indies posted a total of 322 for 8 in 50 overs. For India, Yuzvendra Chahal was the pick of bowlers with 3 for 41, Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammad Shami took 2 wickets each.
Chasing 323 runs to win, Shikhar Dhawan was dismissed by the debutant Oshane Thomas in 2nd over. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli played West Indies bowlers with ease smashing them to all parts of the ground. At the end of 10 overs, India raced to 71 for 1. Kohli and Rohit Sharma continued their attacking stroke play. The Indian captain Kohli reached his half-century off 35 balls while Rohit Sharma made his fifty off 51 balls.
Both of them made the batting look easy with their classy batting. Kohli reached his 36th One-day international century off 88 balls. These two Indian batsmen then showed their aggressive intent smashing West Indies bowlers to all parts of the ground. Rohit Sharma completed his 20th One-day international century off 84 balls. Devendra Bishoo struck to dismiss the Indian captain Virat Kohli for 140. Both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli added 246 runs for a 2nd wicket.
Rohit Sharma and Rayudu added 70 unbeaten runs for the 3rd wicket. Rohit Sharma reached his 150 off 117 balls to complete the match. India won the match by 8 wickets with 47 balls to spare.
West Indies captain Jason Holder said: Very happy with the way our batting showed up after a disappointing test series. Everyone chipped in with useful contributions. We were 25-30 runs short. After we got Dhawan wicket early, Rohit Sharma and Kohli batted extremely well. Hetymer is exciting and if he would have batted 5-6 more overs, our score could have gone 350.
Indian captain and Man of the match Virat Kohli: Feels pretty good with the way we batted. 320 plus totals are always tricky. Batting with Rohit Sharma is always a fun. When I got out, Rohit Sharma took charge and Rayadu gave support. The pitch was good for batting and we chased down the target in 42 overs.
With this win, India leads the 5 match ODI series 1-0. The second ODI will be played on 24th at Vizag.