Shreyas Iyer scored a 57-ball 54 in the first ODI against West Indies, lacing five boundaries and two maximums. In fact, all three of India’s top-order batters managed to get past the half-century mark against West Indies with both openers Shikhar Dhawan scoring a 99-ball 97 and Shubman Gill scoring 53 balls 64.
Despite the absence of seven of their white-ball regulars, which includes Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, Team India, under the leadership of Shikhar Dhawan, got off to a winning start against West Indies in the three-match ODI series, winning the opener in Port of Spain on Friday by a slender three runs.
Ajay Jadeja Feels For Potential Future Skipper And Promising Batter Shreyas Iyer For Not Converting Start To A Century
But despite the match-winning total of 308 posted by India, the batting was criticized by former India cricketer Ajay Jadeja who was particularly unhappy with the performance of both captain Shikhar Dhawan and young India star Shreyas Iyer.
Ajay Jadeja was bothered by their inability to get a century against a comparatively weaker bowling attack. Speaking to Fan Code at innings break on Friday, Ajay Jadeja opined that Shreyas Iyer had burst into the scene with a lot of promise which included being a potential future leader of the Indian team since exposing his weakness towards the shorter deliveries, the 27-year-old has been troubled by bowlers across formats.
“I feel for the man. I mean…he walked into the Indian side with so much promise. A year ago we would be thinking about talking about him as the future India captain and leading the side.
“He starts off great and has a Test match hundred. Suddenly, couple of times he has got out to short balls and not going into the technical factors behind it, but that is playing so much on his mind that you saw that in this innings,” Jadeja said.
The veteran India cricketer further added that Shreyas Iyer’s innings, like Shikhar Dhawan’s, lacked intent and that he should have made most of facing the Windies’ bowling attack and gone for the century to shut critics.
“The way he approached today was very similar to Shikhar Dhawan. So you need a big score to get out of it. He had a decent game I would say. He would be disappointed though.
“With this bowling attack, you would want to make the most of it. Get a 100 and nobody will have anything to say. With this score you cannot say that he is over the problem he has had. You cannot look at this game like we did to India versus England. For me, this is a practice game,” he said.
Shreyas Iyer struck an excellent 54 after being reinstated to the ODI XI after missing the previous two matches against England earlier this month. Shreyas Iyer continues to play for India in all three formats of the game, although Suryakumar Yadav’s strong play over the past several months has limited Shreyas Iyer’s opportunities to play in white-ball matches.
Shikhar Dhawan Top Scores With 97 As India Wins 1st ODI Against West Indies By Only 3 Runs
In the opening ODI of the series in Port of Spain, Team India defeated the West Indies by a narrow margin of three runs. India nearly lost the match in the last over after making a good total of 308/7 in 50 overs after Romario Shepherd took on the bowlers, but Mohammed Siraj maintained his composure and successfully defended 15 runs in the final over.
Shikhar Dhawan scored a match-defining 97 in the first ODI of the ongoing three-match series against the West Indies and was awarded Man of the Match. His 97 of 99 balls consisted of 10 fours and 3 sixes. He will be disappointed after missing out on a century but will look to carry on in the same vein in the next 2 ODIs.
Chasing a record target, the West Indies could only score 305 for 6 in 50 overs. Kyle Mayers top-scored for the home side with 75 while Shamarh Brooks and Brandon King contributed 46 and 54 respectively.
India 308 for 7 (Dhawan 97, Gill 64, Iyer 54, Motie 2-54, Joseph 2-61) beat West Indies 305 for 6 (Mayers 75, King 54, Thakur 2-54, Siraj 2-56) by three runs