Rohit Sharma led the way with an unbeaten 68 and Shikhar Dhawan scored 51 to propel India to a facile four-wicket victory over West Indies in the first One-day International of the five-match series.
The visitors were wobbling on 61 for three, after their batsmen found scoring difficult on a slow pitch. Dhawan added 43 with Sharma for the fourth-wicket before he was dismissed. But it was a stand of 80 between Sharma and captain Suresh Raina that guided India to 215 with 31 balls remaining.
Raina was satisfied with the performance of his team.
“Our bowlers did a good job and this was followed by Rohit and Shikhar,” he said.
India’s spinners, led by Harbhajan Singh who took three for 32, restricted West Indies to 214 for nine. Ramnaresh Sarwan top-scored with 56 and Marlon Samuels made 55 as they shared a third-wicket stand of 82 that gave the innings backbone, after West Indies went into a tailspin on 59 for three.
Hosts’ captain Darren Sammy was understandably disappointed at the outcome.
“We bowled well, but didn’t score enough runs,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 8th, 2011.
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