Shimron Hetmyer, Shai Hope hit centuries as West Indies go 1-0 up
Iyer and Pant had given India a good total to defend, but Hetmyer's aggression and Hope's composure won the day
Iyer and Pant had given India a good total to defend, but Hetmyer's aggression and Hope's composure won the day
Scorer: @Thilak_Rama | Commentator: Karthik Krishnaswamy
As Hetmyer said, having a smile is always nice. On that note, we're signing off. Don't forget to join us for the next ODI. This one has set the series up nicely. And I suspect we haven't heard the last of that Jadeja run out.
Shimron Hetmyer is the Man of the Match: I just try to hit it as hard as I can to be honest (on his power). I was just hoping to get it over the ropes, and I guess it went far. This hundred means a lot, because the last one I had was at the start of the year. Now it's a matter of being consistent next year. I just backed myself and tried to execute my plans. (Laughs about giving his former franchise captain a headache) I wasn't thinking about that too much. It's always nice to have a smile on your face after a victory. The last time I was here, I got a hundred and we lost that game.
Kieron Pollard: Hetmyer has come under a lot of criticism, but it's about understanding his role and responsibility. As a management group, we have faith in him. (On the Jadeja run out) For me at the end of the day, the right decision was made, which is important. We appealed and the umpire didn't take it at that time, but eventually the right decision was made.
Strong words by Kohli there at the end, on the Jadeja run out.
Virat Kohli: I think myself and Rohit not clicking today gave an opportunity for two youngsters to claim a spot. They played very smartly on a slow pitch. We thought six bowling options will be good enough, specially with the pitch being slow and Kedar as an option. But it played differently under lights. I think they batted really well, you can't take that out of the equation. But I think the ball wasn't holding enough for the fast bowlers. Hetmyer was outstanding and Shai as well. It wasn't a drastic change, but a little bit of a change. (on the Jadeja run out) The thought is simple, the fielder asked 'how is that' and the umpire said 'not out'. The dismissal ends there. The people sitting on the TV outside cannot tell the fielders to then tell the umpire to review it again. I've never seen that happen in cricket. I don't know where the rules are, where the line is drawn. I think the referee and the umpires have to take that up, see that incident again. And figure out what needs to be done in cricket. People sitting outside can't dictate what happens on the field. I think that's exactly what happened there
Abhishek: "For all arguing abt requiremnt of batting deep, remember amidst rare top 3 failure Dube did not get to bat much! May be Manish Pandey in place of Jadhav nd a bowler with teeth instead of Dube wud have been good!" -- I thought Jadhav batted pretty well today, but yeah, his bowling seems to have slipped a little lately; he didn't bowl much at the World Cup either.
Muneeb: "Hope played slower than Babar Azam vs Sri Lanka in the Test match earlier today."
Dev : "India scored just about 75 runs in the last 10 overs. That's where the match was lost. Reckon they were about 25 runs short because of some drab batting towards the end."
Sasikanth: "I think India will look back and say Dube probably batted a little too low, especially given how he played when he came in at No. 3. He should have come in to bat near the 40th over. Pant and Iyer will look back and say at least one of them should have got to a 100."
Shai Hope reveals that he was cramping during his innings. "The key is just to bat deep," he tells Harsha Bhogle on the TV broadcast. "See off the new ball and bat as long as possible. The pitch was a bit of a slow turner, so I don't know how Hetty did it, he made it look so easy. It was slow, turning, so someone had to bat deep. The way he was playing made it much easier for me."
9.47pm West Indies go 1-0 up, and do so in style. They got into good positions while chasing similar targets during the World Cup as well, but kept losing wickets thanks to their heavily T20-inflected approach. Shimron Hetmyer scored rapidly here, but his approach was calculated, and the decisiveness of his footwork and shot selection against spin, in particular, was breathtaking. It was one of the best ODI innings by a visiting batsman in India in a long time, and Shai Hope, battling his own lack of fluency, played his role very well too. India couldn't pick up the middle-overs wickets they crave, and Kuldeep Yadav had a bit of an unlucky day, in the sense that he bowled very well, and beat the bat numerous times, but perhaps spun the ball too much to find the edge or get lbws.
Just 11 to win now. Two hits, possibly.
According to laws, West Indies were in the right with their appeal even though it left Virat Kohli fuming
"The team management has told me to calm myself and keep improving the game and fitness, basically in all aspects"
A near-unstoppable force combined with an almost-immovable object at Chepauk
Meanwhile, Hetmyer smashed Jadeja for 85 runs off 50 balls including nine sixes in three innings on this tour
"We could have been 15-20 runs ahead had something not happened out there in the end," says India captain