Shimron Hetmyer's ton powers West Indies, India need 323 to win

Both the sides took the field today with the debutants in Playing XI. Chandrapaul Hemraj (son of former West Indies batsman Shivnarine Chandrapaul) along with Oshane Thomas made played their first-ever ODI for their Windies while Rishabh Pant became the 224th ODI cricketer for India

Leaving the humiliation received in the Test series behind, the West Indies batting unit put a terrific performance at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati on Sunday. Credit goes to Kieron Powell’s powerful start followed by Shimron Hetmtyer’s magnificent century which helped the Caribbean guests putting 322 runs in 50 overs, at a cost of 8 wickets. India need 323 runs to win.

Both the sides took the field today with the debutants in Playing XI. Chandrapaul Hemraj along with Oshane Thomas made played their first-ever ODI for their Windies while Rishabh Pant became the 224^th ODI cricketer for India.

After winning the toss, Indian skipper Virat Kohli invited the guests to bat first. The Caribbeans lost their first wicket very soon as Mohammed Shami new-comer Hemraj (9) in the 5^th over, reducing the opponents to 19/1.

After the first blow, Powell took the charge and scored runs with his partner Shai Hope. The duo stitched a 62-run partnership for the 2^nd wicket. However, they couldn’t carry it further as Khaleel Ahmed broke the partnership in the 15^th over by removing Powell who had already scored a half-century. He ended up scoring 51 off 39 balls.

In the next 6 overs, India found a few wickets as the middle-order didn’t withstand the Indian bowling attack. Chahal removed Marlon Samuels for a 2-ball duck in the 16^th over after which Shami found another victim in the form of Shai hope in 22^nd. The in-form batsman lost his wicket after scoring 32 runs in 51 balls including 2 boundaries.

The half of the Caribbean batsmen were back in the dressing room while the responsibilities automatically came on the shoulders of Hetmyer and Rovman Powell. They added another 74 runs for the 5^th wicket.

In the 31^st over, Jadeja struck with a mind-blowing delivery to bowl out Powell on 22.  Skipper Jason Holder joined Hetmyer thereafter and the both added 60 runs for the sixth wicket. Meanwhile, Hetmyer brought up his 3^rd ODI century off 74 balls. But soon after getting those 3 digits he fell prey to Jadeja in 39^th over and ended up scoring 106 runs.

In the very next over, Ashley Nurse was forced to leave the field Chahal scalped his wicket to reduce the opponents for 252/7.

After adding 23 more runs with Devendra Bishoo, Holder walked back as Chahal’s spin trapped him beautifully to rattle the stumps. The Windies skipper departed for 38.

Despite removing 8 batsmen, the Indians failed to stop West Indies within 300 runs. Bishoo (22) and Roach (26) hammered the Indian bowlers and piled up 44 runs in the last 6.4 overs to set a not-so-easy target of 323 runs for the men-in-blue to win.

The Indian bowling attack looked shimmering against the Caribbean batting today. All the five bowlers leaked at an economy rate of more than 6 where Shami remained the most costly bowler. He conceded 81 runs in his 10 overs (Eco: 8.1) and picked up 2 wickets.