India edge West Indies in thrilling 1st ODI to win by 3 runs

Shikhar Dhawan made a well crafted 97 while Shubmam Gill made a classy 64 in his ODI comeback before India held their nerves to pull off a threerun win over the West Indies in the series opener hereOpeners Dhawan 97 off 99 balls and Gill 64 off 53 shared an 119run stand before the West Indies fought back to restrict India to 308 for sevenThe West Indies needed 15 off the final over for a record chase at Queens Park Oval but Mohammed Siraj was able to stop a rampaging Romario Shepherd 38 not out off 25At the top of order Kyle Mayers 75 off 68 and Shamarh Brooks 46 off 61 raised West Indies hopes with an 117run stand for the second wicket before Brandon King 54 off 66 took the game deep In the end the West Indies fell short and ended at 305 for sixShardul Thakur had struck twice earlier in the chase to bring back India into the game as he removed the set duo of Mayers and BrooksThe highly rated Mayers played a few spectacular strokes in his innings including a one legged pull shot off SirajSkipper Nicholas Pooran 25 off 26 came in and punished Prasidh Krishna with two flat sixes over deep square leg and deep midwicketThe hosts needed 60 off the last 90 balls and the 56run stand between King and Akeal Hosein 32 not out off 32 kept India on the edge However Yuvzvendra Chahal came up with a timely breakthrough to make the job tougher for the West IndiesThe home team was kept in the chase by Shephered and Hosein whose valiant partnership in vainEarlier Gill playing his first ODI since December 2020 played some sublime strokes while Dhawan took his time before changing gearsShreyas Iyer who has had his troubles of late with the short ball was back amongst the runs with a fluent 54 off 57 ballsThe opening duo of Gill and Dhawan provided the launchpad for a 350 plus total before the former was run out in the 18th over against the run of playAlso Read Cricket ground in England set to be named after Sunil GavaskarGill one of the most watchable batters when in full flow was very comfortable against the fast bowlersGill hooked Alzarri Joseph for a six before he delighted the crowd with a perfectly placed punch off the back foot for a boundary He was equally attractive playing the cover drives when the ball was pitched upHis innings comprised six fours and couple of sixes It took a brilliant direct hit from West Indies captain Nicholas Pooran to dismiss him It was Gills maiden ODI fifty in what was his fourth gameDhawan who only plays one format and had a lean run in England paced his innings well with Gill going strong at the other end The southpaw collected 10 fours and three sixes His gotoshot was the slog sweep off leftarm spinner Gudakesh MotieThe other leftarm spinner Akeal Hosein impressed by getting the ball to turn sharplyIndia were set for a 350plus score but Dhawans dismissal for the seventh time in the 90s led to a middleorder collapse with the visitors reduced to 252 for five from 213 for oneSanju Samson 12 squandered a good opportunity to make an impact while Suryakumar Yadav 13 fell to a loose shotDeepak Hooda 27 and Axar Patel 21 took India past 300 with a 42run stand for the sixth wicketBrief ScoresIndia 308 for 7 in 50 overs Shikhar Dhawan 97 Shubman Gill 64 Shreyas Iyer 54 Gudakesh Motie 254 Alzarri Joseph 261West Indies 305 for 6 in 50 overs Kyle Mayers 75 Shamarh Brooks 46 Brandon King 54 Mohammed Siraj 256 Shardul Thakur 254 Yuzvendra Chahal 258This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever