India v West Indies, 1st ODI, Kochi

Match Report

West Indies players running in joy after their victory against India

India were left clueless in the 1st ODI of the Indian season beginner at the Nehru Stadium, Kochi as the West Indies launched an unexpected blitz. India were handed a humiliating defeat by 124 runs, the second largest margin of victory by the West Indies against India with 135 runs being the largest margin at Vijayawada back in 2002.

Marlon Samuels celebrating after his century. He was unbeaten on 126*

Marlon Samuels and Denesh Ramdin stitched a 165 run partnership

Marlon Samuels stole the show with an all-round performance of 126 runs with the bat and boosting it up by picking 2 wickets with figures of 3.0-0-10-2. He made his return into ODI cricket with a bang after 7 months. Another interesting fact that should be noticed that out of the last 4 centuries scored by a West Indian No.4, 3 have been hit by Samuels. Also it looks like Samuels has a special liking towards India as the records show that he has 9 occasions of 50+ scores against this team, more than against any other team. And the mammoth partnership of 165 by Samuels and Denesh Ramdin is the first century partnership in the last 20 IND - WI ties.

At the toss MS Dhoni (India) won the toss and chose to bowl, which was a very bad decision given the conditions as I stated in the preview that it would be better to bat first, get runs on the board and put pressure on the opposition with the fear of

Virat Kohli practicing a shot after getting out cheaply for 2 runs.

required run rate. But that was not the case, India were concerned about their on issues that the death bowling is not up to the mark and that is what happened once again as the last 10 overs of the innings fetched 81 runs and the batting powerplay cost 52 runs. Dwayne Bravo was satisfied with Dhoni's decision as he wanted to bat first. As a result West Indies posted a whooping 321 runs, thanks to Samuels & Indian death bowling.

Suresh Raina looks back to see his stump go cartwheeling on the second delivery he faced

Even this score did not look threatening as the opposition was INDIA, who holds the record for successfully chasing 300+ targets on 15 junctures, no other team could do that more than 7 times, that too they were playing at home. But that was not to be as the Indian inning started in a chaos as Ajinkya Rahane was run out in an imbecilic fashion. But the two crucial men for the chase were Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina who were both out on single digits of 2 and 0 respectively, that put India clearly on the backfoot. Record suggests that India have never chased down a 300+ score losing 4 wickets inside the 100 run mark. Dhoni also could not make amends and perished after a scratchy 8 off 21 balls. As a result India were bowled out 197 in 41 overs. India were folded to West Indian attack 26 times before this match.

Shikhar Dhawan made a scratchy half-century

The important stats to put light on are:

• Virat Kohli has been out in single digit scores in his last 16 innings. Is his form a question considering the World Cup round the corner?
• Amit Mishra is very effective against the West Indies taking 12 of his 42 wickets against this team. Still his spin was fruitless as he went for 7.2 to the over.
• The best average for a wicket keeper in the last 12 months of ODI cricket are 

1. MS Dhoni           70.61
2. Denesh Ramdin  63.25
3. Quinton de Kock 52.9.   The top two played in the match and the clear winner is Denesh Ramdin.

• Even without Sunil Narine and Chris Gayle, West Indies could beat India in their own backyard. How lethal it would be if the two were included!

India missed the trick by experimenting too much on its players before the World Cup and taking the opposition lightly.