As India cruised over West Indies in a one-sided affair during the 1st ODI at Kensington Oval Barbados, Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav became the first-ever Indian left-arm spinning duo to share 7 wickets between them. India won the toss and asked West Indies to bat first in a Spin friendly pitch.
The hosts just like in the Tests, scrambled in front of the visitors dramatically after a decent start. Brandon King got going well after Kyle Mayers gave his wicket to Hardik Pandya for just 2 runs. After making 17 runs, King got clean bowled by Shardul Thakur with a deceiving low-bounced ball.
Then Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav started their show. After Mukesh Kumar removed the dangerous looking Alick Athanaze, Kuldeep dismissed set batter Shai Hope for 43. 3rd down Shimron Hetmyer became the first of Ravindra Jadeja’s 3 wickets at Barbados.
After that it was just a matter of sometime till Kuldeep and Jadeja sweeped the Windies batting line-up one by one. The latter got rid of Rovman Powell and Romario Shepherd with Yadav taking the remaining wickets of Dominic Drakes, Yanic Cariah and Jayden Seales.
Kuldeep Yadav bagged the man of the match award for his extraordinary spell of just 3 overs and 4/6. Jadeja bowled 3 more overs and finished with 3/37. Rohit Sharma’s men chased the total of 115 runs within 23 overs but lost way too many wickets than one could have imagined.
Shubman Gill, continuing his unexpected dip in form, got out cheaply while playing quite an unintended shot. His opening partner Ishan Kishan scored 52 off 46 but Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya remained quite. Shardul Thakur was India’s 5th Wicket in 17.2 overs.
Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja eventually secured the 1st ODI to enter the 2nd One dayer with full momentum. The following ODI will also take place at the Kensington Oval Barbados tomorrow.
