Indian left-arm spinners duo Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja showed their top bowling performances in the first ODI against West Indies in Barbados on Thursday.
Kuldeep and Ishan Kishan’s performances were other main highlights from the first ODI where Kuldeep delivered a top-class bowling performance of 4/6 in just three overs and Kishan scored a well-deserved half-century that helped India secure a win against the hosts.
Kuldeep Yadav was the star performer of the match where he scalped 4/6 in just three overs. He was well supported by Ravindra Jadeja, another brilliant left-arm spinner who got three wickets to his name and delivered a terrific performance for his team.
“The way the pacers bowled was really good, Mukesh and Shardul in particular. And then Jadeja and I could handle things, the ball was spinning a bit. We had to control our lengths and the wickets were easy to get. I have been working on my rhythm and it has been amazing. The ball is coming out nicely and I’m very pleased with it. I have also been varying the pace and in the white-ball format, my focus is on hitting the right lengths,” Kuldeep said during the innings break.
The West Indies captain Shai Hope was the top scorer for his team, managing to score 43 runs. However, apart from him and Alick Athanaze, none of the other West Indies batters could score more than 20 runs in the opening match of the series against India in Bridgetown.
During India’s run chase, they made some interesting changes in their batting order. Shubman Gill opened the innings with Ishan Kishan, and Suryakumar Yadav came in at number three. Hardik Pandya came to bat at number 4. Senior players like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli allowed the youngsters to grab this opportunity and deliver for the team. But the team started crumbling after the first wicket.
In fact, skipper Rohit Sharma came to bat at number seven and stayed unbeaten on 12 runs. The Indian team had a strong grip on the game throughout, and credit must be given to Ishan Kishan for his impressive knock of 52 runs that helped India achieve the modest target set by the West Indies.
No other bowlers except Gudakesh Motie from the West Indies showed their courage to take some wickets, he took 2/26 which includes the wicket of Ishan Kishan. Jayden Seales and Yannic Cariah were the other two bowlers who took one wicket each.
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