Hosts West Indies gave a good fight to India in the first ODI at the Queen’s Park Oval before going down by three runs as the visitors clinched a last-ball thriller to go 1-0 up in the three-match series.
India skipper Shikhar Dhawan was declared the player of the match for his knock of 97 off 99 balls but pacer Mohammed Siraj had his say in the result with an excellent last over.
Chasing the target of 309, West Indies were in no mood to give up easily and scored 50 off the last five overs to come within touching distance of the winning total but Siraj held his nerves in the final over to restrict the hosts to 305/6.
15 was needed from the last over for West Indies to win when Dhawan threw the ball to Siraj and here’s how the over transpired.
Ball 1: Akeal Hosein was on strike. Siraj bowled a full wide of off delivery and the batter failed to connect. Dot ball.
Ball 2: Hosein tried to ramp the second delivery but it hit his ankle and went to point for a leg bye. One run.
Ball 3: Romario Shepherd was back on strike and offered a huge swing of the bat to the yorker. Got an inside edge that ran down to the fence at the backward square leg. Four runs.
Ball 4: Another yorker to Shepherd and this followed the batter who somehow managed to play it to long leg for a double. Two runs.
Ball 5: Siraj followed the batsman again but this was down the leg and went for a wide. One run.
Ball 5: Fuller delivery on off and Shepherd slaps it down the ground for a double. Two runs.
Ball 6: Four runs are needed from the last over. Shepherd is on strike and West Indies were confident of a win, but Siraj bowled a beautiful yorker that went between the legs of the batsman. Just one leg bye and India won by three runs.
Siraj finished the match with match figures of 2/57 from 10 overs. Shardul Thakur and Yuzvendra Chahal also got two wickets each in the match. Earlier, Dhawan and Shubman Gill (64) forged an opening partnership of 119 to give India a strong start in the match. Shreyas Iyer made 54 to help the visitors post a total of 308/7.
Kyle Mayers (75) and Brandon Kings (54) were the top scorers for West Indies.
The second ODI will be played at the same venue on 24 July.
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