The team that defeated England 3-1 in their den in the recently concluded ODI series, was expected to maul the West Indies at home. But, that did not happen, as the complacent Indian side led by MS Dhoni went down to the Caribbeans by a huge margin of 124 runs in the first ODI in Kochi. West Indies now lead the five-match ODI series 1-0.
Earlier, West Indies posted 321/6 in 50 overs, thanks to Marlon Samuels’ 126* off 116 balls. Denesh Ramdin (61), Dwayne Smith (46) and Darren Bravo (28) were the other contributors. For India, Mohammed Shami took four wickets.
Chasing a victory target of 322, Team India crumbled under pressure and kept losing wickets at regular intervals. They finally bundled out for 197 in 41 overs and lost the match by 124 runs. Shikhar Dhawan was the top scorer with 68, while Ravindra Jadeja remained unbeaten on 33. Rahane scored 24. For West Indies, Ravi Rampaul, Dwayne Bravo and Marlon Samuels took two wickets each. Samuels remained an obvious choice to get the ‘Man of the Match’ award.
