India vs West Indies 2022, 1st ODI – Who Said What

India clinched their historic 1000th ODI in clinical fashion to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series against West Indies. The victory also marked the start of Rohit Sharma’s full-time ODI captaincy on a positive note, with India not being too challenged by the visitors, who were tumbled out for a paltry 176 after being put in to bat first.

The tally could have been meeker had it not been for the lower-order rearguard action by Jason Holder and Fabian Allen in a 78-run eighth-wicket stand after India had reduced them to 79/7, with Yuzvendra Chahal and comeback man Washinton Sundar wreaking havoc, prizing out seven wickets between them to break West Indies’ back.

The tone of the collapse was set by Mohammed Siraj, however, when he jagged one into Shai Hope after being hit for consecutive fours, rattling his stumps as he inside-edged the ball. The other designated pacer, Prasidh Krishna, joined the action later, undoing Akeal Hosein and Allen as his two wickets.

India took off in the chase, with Rohit Sharma playing the aggressor in the 84-run stand for the opening wicket alongside Ishan Kishan. Rohit slammed a six and ten fours in his 51-ball 60 before perishing to Alzarri Joseph, who struck in the same over to dismiss Virat Kohli.

Despite another brief stutter – India lost Kishan and Rishabh Pant in a space of five balls – they were kept in good stead by Suryakumar Yadav and Hooda, whose respective unbeaten knocks of 34 and 26 took the team to a six-wicket win with 22 overs to spare.

Rohit Sharma, India captain:

I don’t believe in perfect game. You cannot be perfect. We want to keep getting better. All in all a great effort from everyone. We ticked all boxes. Pretty happy with that. With that bat we could’ve finished with not so many wickets, that is one. Could also have created pressure on their lower order. Don’t want to take any credit away. The way we bowled upfront and then towards the back end was good to see. We want to keep getting better as a team. The end goal is we should be able to achieve what the team wants. If the team requires us to do something different, have to do it. Don’t think we have to change a lot. All I ask from players is to keep challenging themselves. I’ve been off for a while, haven’t played for two months but I was back home hitting the balls. Knew there was a long season ahead. Had a good net session here. I was confident going into this game. Can take a lot of positives from this game. The pitch had something in it. There was softness in the pitch early on. In this particular game the toss became important. But honestly want to take the toss away from the play, don’t want to depend on it a lot. But if you do, you have to take advantage.

Kieron Pollard, West Indies captain:

Losing with 22 overs to spare is a heavy defeat. Same old for us – not being able to bat 50 overs. Have to take stock of that. We’ve got to dig deep, get better in terms of technique, myself included. Credit to the guys turning up. Has been difficult the last couple of days. Getting four wickets there shows if we put some runs we can compete. Toss is a crucial factor. It’s wet out there right now. Tonight it just slid onto the bat. That’s the nature of cricket, we can’t change that. You can say that (Holder should bat higher?). 12 months ago guys would not be saying that. He can bat in any position in the order. Yes he can bat at six. He has a role to play for us. He came in a crucial scenario and made a crucial fifty. See if we can work on some technical flaws in the next couple of days and see what happens.

Yuzvendra Chahal, Player of the Match:

Felt good. Washi struck twice in an over so we knew pressure was on them. My job was to sustain that pressure. Got the feeling watching Washi bowl that the ball was gripping. Had a chat with Rohit, Virat, they said the pace is important. My thought was that if it’s turning at pace, keep doing it. Threw in a slower one here and there as a variation. I looked back at the footage from the South Africa series to see where I can improve.