West Indies started and finished well with the bat, but what transpired in the middle went a long way in defining the direction of the opening ODI of the three-match series against India in Thiruvananthapuram. John Campbell and Justin Greaves flew off the blocks, with the latter scoring a brisk century, while Amir Jangoo, fresh off a CPL final fifty, maximised the death overs with an unbeaten 58 off 43. But the fired-up West Indies ran into some Kuldeep Yadav wizardry in the middle and came away dazed.
A potential 330-plus total ended at 295/7 – which too was only possible due to Jangoo’s urgency in the death overs. Expectedly, West Indies’ total wasn’t enough: Shubman Gill scored his 10th ODI ton, extending his incredible purple patch at home since 2024 and Virat Kohli got to 15000 ODI runs on the way to his 55th century in the format, that came off just 74 balls.
But first about Kuldeep, who was at his skillful best. He began after the drinks break when West Indies were soaring away at 107/0 in 15 overs and clipped the openers’ wings in his third over. Kuldeep got Campbell to top-edge a tossed up ball to Prasidh Krishna at short fine, breaking a 135-run stand. The wicket brought Kaecy Carty to the middle, who just couldn’t get going.
He eventually fell in the 31st over for a laborious 13 off 31 as West Indies’ scoring rate dipped below six-an-over. Kuldeep returned after a successful first spell to up the ante further, sending back Shai Hope first with a flighted ball that the skipper miscued and then bowling a double-wicket maiden over. Kuldeep first saw the back of centurion Greaves by trapping him leg before and then bowled a peach to Jewel Andrew which he nicked to Rohit Sharma at first slip.
Jangoo picked up the pieces of this meandering essay and turbo boosted it towards a fighting finish. West Indies managed 82 in the last 10 overs, with Jangoo hitting 50 of those from just 27 balls. Jangoo went after Prasidh and Gurnoor at the death to push West Indies as close to 300 as was possible. Their bowlers however lacked the bite to make that total seem competitive.
The new-ball bowlers copped a beating in the first Powerplay and were undone by a dropped catch that gave Gill an early reprieve. Rohit and Gill took 70 runs in the Powerplay to put India ahead in chase, but Alzarri Joseph had the former caught at deep square leg for a 35-ball 32. Kohli arrived to the crease with the idea of taking on pace, swivel-pulling a 144kmph Joseph delivery for a six. As West Indies struggled to challenge the batters, Kohli and Gill cantered their way to a fifty each. But the bigger milestone of the evening came a little later in the 29th over, when Kohli went past 15,000 ODI runs.
The Kohli-Gill juggernaut rattled on at full speed as West Indies’ search for potency with the ball came up empty. Gill played with incredible control, playing just one false shot at the time of reaching his 10th ODI hundred – off 96 balls. Roston Chase still managed to dismiss Gill against the run of play but Kohli marched on, scoring a staggering 30th century in an ODI chase. Kohli finished with an unbeaten 139 off 88, accompanying 10 fours with nine sixes – the most by him in an ODI innings. He wrapped up India’s chase in just the 42nd over with the last two of his nine sixes.
Brief Scores: West Indies 295/7 in 50 overs (Justin Greaves 101, John Campbell 62, Amir Jangoo 58*; Kuldeep Yadav 4-40, Prasidh Krishna 2-60) lost to India 300/2 in 41.4 overs (Virat Kohli 139*, Shubman Gill 110) by 8 wickets.
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