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Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja shine as India steamroll West Indies in first ODI
Ravindra Jadeja, right, celebrates the dismissal of West Indies’ Shimron Hetmyer with captain Rohit Sharma during the first ODI at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados on Thursday. (AP Photo)
Performances against this West Indies side that is searching for its soul after missing out on a World Cup berth for the first time may not flatter. Yet, there were a couple of encouraging signs for Rohit Sharma from the first ODI at Barbados where India clinched a five-wicket victory in their chase of 115.
With the World Cup looming, every tiny aspect is bound to be under lens. And to start off, so was the decision to open the bowling with Hardik Pandya despite having Umran Malik and Shardul Thakur in the XI. In the bigger picture, i.e. the World Cup, it is one that is bound to generate interest as Pandya as a new-ball bowler – he is used to bowling in the IPL for Gujarat Titans – has shown a tendency to be effective in slow conditions where the odd ball stops a bit. For a seamer who prefers pitching it on the hard length or the back of the length, if Pandya manages to hit the right spots, he can be counted on to send down a few quiet overs in the first powerplay, especially if India play with only three seam bowling options in the XI. On Thursday, it brought him the wicket of Kyle Mayers. (Read more from our senior writer Venkata Krishna B)
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