After the visitors won the coin toss, West Indies were obliged to bat first. When the spinning duo of Ravindra Jadeja along with Kuldeep Yadav took seven wickets to end the Windies’ innings on 114 in a mere 23 overs, Shai Hope never seemed in control versus the Men in Blue.
Kyle Mayers, the third over’s opener, was sent back by Pandya after the left-hander tried attempting a big shot and handed Rohit an easy catch. The Windies were moving forward under the leadership of Alick Athanaze along with King until Mukesh Kumar and Thakur, in the ninth over, dismissed the pair.
In the game, Mukesh, who was playing in his first ODI, dismissed Athanaze on 22, and Thakur bowled King on 17. With his subsequent three dismissals, Jadeja tied Courtney Walsh for the most ODI wickets between the two teams.
Kuldeep Yadav, who was brought in in the 19th over, took the West Indies innings, which had 114 runs, and put an end to it in just three overs while recording outstanding bowling stats of 3-2-6-4.
India chase down paltry West Indies’ total
Instead of Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill began for India alongside Ishan Kishan, however, he could not do well at the plate. He was caught in the slips by Brandon King after prodding an outside-off ball to them in the fourth over, giving West Indies their first success.
Suryakumar Yadav, who entered in position three, displayed excellent footwork with his aggressive strokes all over the stadium. He failed to capitalise on his strong start, though and was caught in front of Gudakesh Motie during the eleventh over.
India’s middle order was put in jeopardy by three fast wickets from Hardik Pandya, Kishan, and Shardul Thakur before Rohit Sharma as well as Ravindra Jadeja rallied the side to victory.
West Indies would be hoping for a much better performance next time around when the two sides meet for the second ODI at the same venue on 29th July 2023.
Fans react to India demolishing West Indies in the first ODI:
India beat West Indies by 5 wickets in the first ODI.
Starts the World Cup preparation on a high. pic.twitter.com/w6R0OuP5ye
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) July 27, 2023
Starts the World Cup preparation on a high?
Bhai Preparation to nahi , But tu zaror high on weed lag raha hai ??
— Maze (@uploads_gaming) July 27, 2023
Is this what we call "high"? Chasing just 118 runs, and yet we've lost 5 wickets already! Our so-called "Prince" and "Mr. 360" can't even chase this simple target!
— Vipin Tiwari (@vipintiwari952) July 27, 2023
Out of those who got out today, almost all of them are our options for the middle order.
Looking at today’s match, it would not be wrong to say that the middle order is not at all WC ready.— Anuuj (@IchbinAnuj) July 27, 2023
Imagine the scenes if WI had scored another 70-80 runs.
— Aditya Saha (@Adityakrsaha) July 27, 2023
high likhte hue sharam nahi aayi
— ananya (jem's version) (@notjemi05) July 27, 2023
It's like me doing multiplication for JEE preperations
— LABUSHAME (@SMUDGE4549) July 27, 2023
Lost 5 wickets chasing a very small total against a team that has not even qualified for the WC. Is this called starting WC preparations on a high?
— ???? ???? ? (@driveovercovers) July 28, 2023
Warra preparation currently west indies is the weekeeesstttt team n choosing field first says a lot Abt mentality
— Jithin (@j33tin) July 27, 2023
