Shai Hope:
“Let’s just say we didn’t play the way we needed to. On a challenging pitch, we need to find ways to score. I’m not making excuses but anyone watching cricket can see what’s happening here. But we have to find ways to score. [Seales] He is a quality player. Worth investing in. Going from strength to strength. We knew an early start here would be difficult and the Indian bowlers did well on this surface, but again we didn’t bat very well.”
Rohit Sharma:
“To be honest, I never thought the pitch was going to play like that. It was the team’s need that we wanted to have a score in front of us but never thought the pitch would deteriorate like that. It had something for everyone. But never thought we’d restrict them to that low a score. [On the batting order] We said that we wanted to give a chance to the guys. Never thought we’d lose five wickets but it was a good chance to give a chance to a lot of the guys who have just come in.
I thought restricting them to 115 got us in a commanding position that we needed so we thought we could give those guys a chance who haven’t played a lot in the last few weeks. [On if he remembers the last time he came out at No. 7] It was my debut actually! Mukesh has been brilliant. Even in Tests we saw he can swing the new ball, has a bit of pace and quite consistent as well. So we want to see what he has to offer. Haven’t seen him much so it was good to see what he can do with a white ball. The take away from this game was the bowling effort. Even with conditions favouring you you have to bowl well. And Kishan did well with the bat.”
Kuldeep Yadav is the player of the match:
“[On India’s bowling performance] Perfect. Started off with the fast bowlers. Mukesh, making his debut. Shardul and Hardik got wickets too. Me and Jadeja, we were great. Just following the routine and rhythm and it’s been amazing in the last one year. Focusing on the length is more important than getting wickets. People say it’s a seaming paradis and I was happy that [spinners] got seven wickets from our side and some from their side as well.
It was spinning a bit and there was bounce as well. It’s always good to have competition, but me and Chahal don’t think about the competition and just work with each other. When you have seniors like Chahal to help you it gives you a lot of confidence. We have been playing together for five or six years so he has really helped. There’s no competition, we just give each other great company.”
India vs West Indies 1st Highlights 2023, Thursday 27-7. India tour of West Indies 2023, From Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados.
India have won the toss and chose to bowl first.
India team: 1. Rohit Sharma (capt), 2. Shubman Gill, 3. Virat Kohli, 4. Ishan Kishan (wk), 5. Pandya, 6. Suryakumar Yadav, 7. Ravindra Jadeja, 8. Shardul Thakur, 9. Kuldeep Yadav, 10. Umran Malik, 11. Mukesh Kumar
West Indies team: 1. Shai Hope, 2. Kyle Mayers , 3. Brandon King, 4. Alick Athanaze, 5. Shimron Hetmyer, 6. Rovman Powell, 7. Romario Shepherd, 8. Yannic Cariah, 9. Dominic Drakes, 10. Jaydon Seales, 11. Gudakesh Motie
Head to Head In ODI’s: 139
India Won: 70
West Indies Won: 63
India ODI Rankings: 3rd
West Indies ODI Rankings: 10th
Form guide
(last five completed ODI’s, most recent first)
India LLWWW
West Indies LWLTL
Match Timings: 1:30 PM GMT | 9:30 AM Local
Umpires – Michael Gough, Nigel Duguid
TV Umpire – Marais Erasmus
Match Referee – Richie Richardson
Reserve Umpire – Gregory Brathwaite
Match number – ODI no. 4622
Pitch and weather:
Kensington Oval hosted all three matches during West Indies’ ODI series against New Zealand in August 2022. The surfaces for that series produced first-innings totals of 190, 212 and 301, and had something in them for both seamers and spinners. While the top three wicket-takers were fast bowlers Trent Boult, Jason Holder and Tim Southee, the fingerspinners were hard to get away, with Kevin Sinclair, Akeal Hosein and Mitchell Santner finishing with economy rates below five.
That series, however, featured day-night games. All three ODIs in this series will be day games, with Indian TV audiences in mind. The weather could affect the first ODI, with a 20% chance of rain on Thursday. The forecast for the second ODI on Saturday, however, is grimmer, with a 50% chance of rain.
