India 314 beats for 9 (Mandhana 91, Harleen 44, James 5-45) west indies 103 (Fletcher 24, Renuka 5-29) by 211 runs.
The first of the three ODIs between India and West Indies since the T20I series went to a decider was thoroughly one-sided. The hosts dominated from start to finish despite failing to reach their full potential, still posting an impressive 314 for 9 and barely flexing their bowling muscles to get through a West Indies line-up that was folded like a nine-pin.
India will look back on their batting performance with mixed emotions despite the huge winning margin. For the first half of the inning, they seemed stuck in second gear. The safety-first approach that has plagued them in recent ODIs has again taken priority despite Mandhana looking as scintillating as he has throughout the format. Year.
The initial attention largely rested on nervous debutant Pratika Rawal. Earlier this month, after several experiments in Australia, he auditioned to be Mandhana’s batting partner but failed to do so, especially with Richa Ghosh opening.
Rawal was bowled out for 40 in his 110-run opening stand but was helped by plenty of luck along the way. On the 1st, she tickled the wicketkeeper but the West Indies did not review. On the 3rd, Afy Fletcher dropped a sitter on middle as she attempted her first offensive shot. Between the two, she survived the odds. To Rawal’s credit, she overcame all this to slowly build up the innings before falling for an unreal return catch from Mathews, stretching out to stun him with one hand.
This became evident almost immediately as Harmanpreet changed the tempo of the innings upon her arrival, rushing from 20 to 32 with her trademark sweeps and fierce loft hits, attempting a mix with Richa Ghosh to run for a short third over. innings.
Ghosh and Rodrigues played excellent cameos to help give India the finishing kick while also allowing them to muddle over in the middle overs, taking the final 20 overs to 160. Ghosh displayed her full range of power, timing and precision. In one, she made 26 off 13 balls, while Rodriguez, now seen as a finisher, made 31 off 19 balls.
Renuka’s spell effect also has a hypnotic effect on others. Titas Sadhu picked up his first ODI wicket and young legspinner Priya Mishra delivered 4.2 crafty overs for two wickets. All in all, the look of horror on Shemaine Campbelle’s face when she hit high for the acrobatic Harmanpreet to intercept the ball by leaping high on middle and pulling away with one hand summed up the West Indies’ evening.
It was nothing short of a horror show with the bat, and they were hoping to improve on that as they head towards their 50th World Cup on these very shores in 10 months.
Shashank Kishore is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo.
