India vs West Indies 1st ODI: Player of The Match, Post Match Presentation, Scorecard, Records and Stats

Add as a preferred source on Google

Ahmedabad, Feb. 6: Playing in their 1000th ODI, India cruised home to a six-wicket victory over West Indies in the first ODI of the three-match series at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Sunday.

India, beginning a new era under new skipper Rohit Sharma, notched up a comfortable victory to go one up in the series in Ahmedabad. After electing to bowl first, the spinners put up a stellar show as they bowling out the visiting West Indies side for a paltry 176.

Rohit, who had been out of action for a couple of months due to injury, starred with the bat as the hosts chased down the total with 22 overs to spare. Rohit top scored as he hit his 44th ODI half-century off 42 deliveries. The skipper stitched on a 84-run opening partnership with Ishan Kishan (28 off 36).

Kishan, who made it to the playing XI after Shikhar Dhawan was ruled out after testing positive for covid-19, made the most of the opportunity. The youngster unlike his nature, played a patient knock, playing second fiddle to skipper Rohit who found the boundaries.

India were cruising at 84 for no loss before Alzarri Joseph handed Windies the breakthrough in the 14th over, removing Rohit (60 off 51). Former skipper Virat Kohli (8 off 4), who got off the mark whacking back-to-back boundaries, endured an off day as Joseph picked up the second wicket of the over - the captain and the former captain.

Though India's middle-order woes once again troubled the hosts with India losing four quick wickets, Suryakumar Yadav (34 off 36) and debutant Deepak Hooda (26 off 32) put up a 62-run partnership to steady the ship and guide India home to a comfortable win.

Earlier, Yuzvendra Chahal and Washington Sundar thrived on the Motera track as the duo shared seven wickets between them. India will take on West Indies next on February 9th in the 2nd ODI.

Player of the Match: Yuzvendra Chahal 4/49

Winning Captain: Rohit Sharma (IND): I don't believe in a perfect game. You cannot be perfect. All in all a great effort from everyone. Pretty happy with that. We want to keep getting better as a team. We spoke of what we wanted to achieve and we ticked all the boxes. Holder-Allen created that partnership and we wanted to get them out. I'm open to a lot of things if we need to change. The end goal is we should be able to achieve what the team wants - whether we want to bat or bowl differently. Honestly, I don't think we need to change a whole lot. All I will ask of the players it to challenge yourself and be innovative. I've been off for a while and didn't play for two months. I was back home, though, and hitting balls. It's about finding rhythm as a batter and I was confident going into this game. The pitch had something in it. There was softness early on and in this particular game the toss became important. But, if you keep ticking all the boxes, you can restrict any team and the same goes with the batting. Toss - I honestly want to take it away from the play, but if you win the toss, you take advantage of it.

Losing Captain: Kieron Pollard (WI): Of course! Losing with 22 overs to spare is not ideal. Not being able to bat 50 overs - we've got to take stock of that. We got to dig deeper and get better with techniques, again myself included. Having said that, not the result we wanted, but credit to the guys for turning up. It has been a difficult last three days. It was pretty wet and the ball was sliding on. When we batted, it held up and spun. We have to find a way. The lower-order batting from Jason and Fabian. Joseph and Akeal Hosein did the work for us with the ball - those were the positives. We will come back and see what happens.

Yuzvendra Chahal: It felt good. Washi (Sundar) struck twice in an over so we knew pressure was on them. My job was to sustain that pressure. Got the feeling watching Washi bowl that the ball was gripping. Had a chat with Rohit, Virat, they said the pace is important. My thought was that if it's turning at pace, keep doing it. Threw in a slower one here and there as a variation. I looked back at the footage from the South Africa series to see where I can improve.

Suryakumar Yadav (34 off 36): I think things were really clear. I didn't tell him (Hooda) anything. He has played domestic cricket for last seven years. It was important for him to stay till the end, and his confidence was spot on. I really liked it. Pollard told me a few things. 'Midwicket was open, why are you not flicking like you do in IPL' but it was different here. I feel the track was almost the same as it was in the afternoon. But due to dew, it became slightly easier in the chase.