West Indies vs India, 1st ODI at Port of Spain, WI v IND, Jul 22 2022 - Ball by Ball Commentary

On that note, let's call it a day. An exhilarating one at the cricket. The pitch played well, the gameplay was win-oriented. The ebbs and flows, the hold on attention was exemplary of good ODIs. Hope this is a sign of things to come and that you enjoyed our coverage. See you again for the next one. For now, it's ciao from me, Ekanth, on behalf my commentating, report-writing dynamo, Sudarshanan, and our scorer, Thilak.

Nazim: "Here is the beauty of ODI Format. It's entertaining, glamorous. A player can be proved here. Cricket means ODI "

Shareef: "I believe Mohammed Siraj deserved the 'player of the match' award for holding his nerve in the most decisive moments of the match, leading the pace pack and landing those unplayable yorkers (along with 2 wickets to his name, one of the skipper Pooran at a crucial time, strangling him with consistent line "

Shikhar Dhawan, POTM (97 off 99) and India Captain: (On not getting 100) It was disappointing but grateful for 97. I enjoyed it. It was difficult as it was holding a bit and turned. When Shubman, Shreyas and I were batting, we wanted to go big and make it easy for the youngsters. We had nerves as we didn't expect them to come this close. Fine leg went back and two three boundaries were stopped there which helped. We thought of using the bigger side, we gave doubles to fine leg. One of them should have been a run out but not everyday is a perfect day. We have to get better.

Nicholas Pooran, West Indies Captain: It feels like a win, bittersweet. We batted fifty overs, we're trying to figure it out continuously. Hopefully, we can get better with time. (India's 35-40 overs) Credit to the bowlers, it's a good track. We spoke and thought of restricting them to 315. Akeal, Alzarri, everyone stood up. We ticked fielding, batting to the end which was great. It's difficult to lose but we will take this one. We need to believe in each other and develop. We'll have a lot of challenges but are moving in the right direction.

Indeed it has. The game had the pattern of good starts continue this innings. Mayers and Brooks put on a 117-run stand for the second wicket. Pooran got a start. King, Hosein, and Shepherd made significant contributions to ensure wickets did not stall the runs. West Indies fell just three short. The yorkers that India persisted with did go wrong now and again, more due to where it went rather than the execution, but it paid off eventually. Chahal was good as always. Thakur was expensive but took wickets so it's all normal. Excellent match to start the series.

Eli Gew: "Who says ODIs are not exciting? This games proves that ODIs can still be relevant!"

5:45 pm: Siraj pumps the air, gets a hug from his mates. Shepherd is down but he's been exceptional. The members of both teams shake hands with opposition's players.

He needs four more for the super over, six for West Indies to win. Four boundary riders on the leg side.

15 off 6, 3 boundaries?

Money: "I will get a better sleep if you can help me with my query, Ekanth. Why not Deepak over Prasidh for his economic spell? Please :(" Because Prasidh's suitable. He bowled decently to be fair.

Around

Noor: "Shouldn't 48.2 be called a wide?" He'd gone far across, which may have gone against him.

Sudarshanan's checked yorker ball-by-ball data this innings. India have bowled 13 yorker and conceded 16 runs in this innings as opposed to five runs in eight balls by WI bowlers

SamC: "Who bowls 49th? ... " Krishna? Yes.

Shoeb: "Siraj is landing those yorkers pretty well!" Yeah, next level.

Rajesh Sanghvi: "Akeal playing a very sensible innings. "

Karan: "Test cricket feels more entertaining than one day these days." Entertainment is subjective but there's a case to be made there.