India had to put in considerable effort to register a five-wicket win over West Indies in the first ODI match on Thursday, July 27. Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja produced impressive spells to bowl out West Indies' innings on just 114 runs while bowling first. Then Ishan Kishan scored fifty while opening an innings to guide India to a hard-fought win.
Indian captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bowl first at Bridgetown's Kensington Oval. Mukesh Kumar, who made his international debut in the second Test against West Indies, was handed his maiden ODI cap while Ishan Kishan started ahead of Sanju Samson to don wicketkeeping gloves.
Hardik Pandya gave India a promising start with Kyle Mayers' wicket in the third over. Indian bowlers never gave the opponent a chance to settle or to scorch any meaningful partnership. Mukesh also bagged a wicket for himself to kick off his white-ball international career but India's spin duo of Kuldeep and Jadeja stole the show.
Jadeja cracked West Indies middle order with Shimron Hetmyer and Rovman Powell's valuable wickets. Then Kuldeep bowled a sensational spell to dismantle the hosts' lower order. Kuldeep bagged four wickets while conceding just six runs off his three-over spell while Jadeja picked three for 37.
While chasing an easy target, Indian management promoted Ishan to open an innings with Shubman Gill. The returning pacer Jayden Gill dismissed Shubman Gill in the third over to add early pressure on the Indian team.
Suryakumar came to bat at no.3 and added 36 runs for the second wicket with Ishan. But Gudakesh Motie ended Suryakumar's innings in the 11th over to deny India a big wicket. Hardik Pandya and Shardul Thakur were also promoted to bat ahead of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma but failed to impress.
Rohit and Jadeja finished the game with an unbeaten 21-run stand for the sixth wicket with the former smashing a four off Motie to seal the winning runs in the 23rd over. Kuldeep was awarded the Player of the Match award for his 4/6 figures but it was not a convincing win for the Men in Blue at Kensington Oval.
