Cricket News: India Beat West Indies By 3 Runs; Take 1-0 Lead
A narrow margin victory by India in a tight competition against West Indies showed that the ODI format is still not dead
Shikhar Dhawan scored a brilliant knock of 97 and was named 'Man of the Match'.The game started with a rock-solid opening from India and a comeback from West Indies after 30 overs when they slowed them down to restrict 308 runs with a loss of 7 wickets. West Indies continued their shoulder-to-shoulder performance with the bat as they fell short of just three runs when Mohammed Siraj's yorkers defended 15 runs off the last over to take India to win a nail-biting thriller.
Indian top order batted like they were earnest about impacting their future selections. Opener Shikhar Dhawan and Shubman Gill started with a solid 119 runs partnership in 17.4 overs. Shreyas Iyer maintained India's batting tone along with Shikhar Dhawan for another 94 runs partnership in 97 balls. India was steering high at 230/3 in 35.5 overs, where Shikhar Dhawan missed his century by three runs, while Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer scored 64 and 54 runs, respectively.
But then the wicket started getting flat, and West Indies bowlers made a comeback using the conditions well as they slowed India's run rate and kept taking wickets. They restricted India at 308/7 after Suryakumar Yadav, Sanju Samson, and Deepak Hooda failed to push the run rate.
West Indies also started well, with Kyle Mayers and Shamarh Brooks putting on a 117-run strong partnership for the second wicket. Brandon King maintained the grip on the match, and with the support of Nicholas Pooran, Akeal Hosein and Romario Shepherd, West Indies reached very near to the target. Towards the end host needed 38 runs in 18 balls when Hosein and Shephard were in full swing. Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna stuck to their nerve and defended the total with strict line and length, and West Indies fell short of three runs from victory.
West Indies captain Nicholas Pooran said, "It feels like a win, bittersweet. We batted fifty overs, we're trying to figure it out continuously. Hopefully, we can get better with time."
The promising performance shown by West Indies has made this ODI series very interesting. India will have to be at their very best if they want to stay on top, or else the firepower host is carrying, it won't be surprising to see some different results. India will eye to win this three-match ODI series in the next match on 24th July, while West Indies will bounce back to take the series decision to the last game on 27th July.