Chennai: Brilliant hundreds from Shai Hope (102 off 151 balls) and Shimron Hetmyer (139 off 106 balls) powered West Indies to a historic 8-wicket win against India in the first One-Day International at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium on Sunday.
Flamboyant batsman Hetmyer scored his fifth ODI hundred in the 33rd over to put Windies on top in the run-chase. Hetmyer hard-fought 139 is the fifth-highest individual score versus India while chasing in India.
Post Hetmyer's dismissal, Shai Hope and Nicholas Pooran continued to bat without breaking a sweat and help West Indies chase 288 with 13 balls to spare and take a 1-0 lead in the three-match ODI series.
The Indian bowlers, especially the spinners, proved to be ineffective against the Windies batting line-up. This is now the most overs (33) bowled by spinners in an ODI match in India without claiming any wickets.
Hetmyer, showed great maturity and turned the game firmly in his team's favour. Shreyas Iyer gave the Windies batsman a life as he had dropped his simple catch in the 35th over after which Hetmyer smashed two sixes off Jadeja in the next over.
Earlier, the solid 114-run stand between Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant followed by a brisk half-century stand from Kedar Jadhav-Ravindra Jadeja helped hosts put a respectable first innings total on a slowish Chepauk pitch that saw the Indian top-order collapse. Team India posted 288-8 in their 50 overs.
All-rounder Kedar Jadhav failed to convert his knock into a 'big one' as he was caught for 40. With Jadhav's dismissal a 300+ total vs West Indies seemed out of reach for team India. Ravindra Jadeja looked to end the innings on a high note but got run out in bizarre circumstances. Jadeja's run out made skipper Kohli angry as he was not happy the way the entire situation was handled.
Shivam Dube (9), playing his maiden ODI, went for the big hit in the final over but failed to get it over the fence for a six and was caught out by Holder off Keemo Paul's delivery.
Teams:
India (Playing XI): Lokesh Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli (c), Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Kedar Jadhav, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Deepak Chahar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami
West Indies: (Playing XI): Shai Hope (wk), Sunil Ambris, Shimron Hetmyer, Nicholas Pooran, Roston Chase, Kieron Pollard (c), Jason Holder, Keemo Paul, Hayden Walsh, Alzarri Joseph, Sheldon Cottrell
West Indies: (Playing XI): Shai Hope (wk), Sunil Ambris, Shimron Hetmyer, Nicholas Pooran, Roston Chase, Kieron Pollard (c), Jason Holder, Keemo Paul, Hayden Walsh, Alzarri Joseph, Sheldon Cottrell