Chennai, Dec 15: Shimron Hetmyer smashed a career-best 139 ahead of next week’s IPL auction, toying with an ordinary looking Indian attack to set up an eight-wicket win for West Indies in the ODI series opener here today.
Chasing 288 on a slow surface was expected to be a challenging task but thanks to Hetmyer (139 off 106) and opener Shai Hope (102 not out off 150), the visitors raced to victory in 47.5 overs.
The duo shared a decisive 218-run stand for the second wicket after the fall of Sunil Ambris in the fifth over.
India had recovered to 287 for eight after being put in to bat with Shreyas Iyer (70 off 88) scoring his third consecutive half-century and Rishabh Pant (71 off 69) returning to form to silence his critics.
The lack of a specialist fifth bowler hurt India as the combination of debutant Shivam Dube (0/68 in 7.5 overs) and Kedar Jadhav (0/11 in one over) leaked 79 runs in 8.5 overs overs.
Hetmyer was unstoppable en route to his fifth ODI century, smashing as many as seven sixes including the one that hit the roof. Most of his big hits went sailing over the deep mid-wicket boundary.
Hope gave solid support to Hetmyer and deservingly completed his eighth ODI hundred. Another talented southpaw like Hetmyer, Nicholas Pooran (29 not out off 23), hit back-to-back boundaries to register a memorable win for West Indies.
The second game of the three-match series will be played in Visakhapatnam on Wednesday.
Earlier, Pant struck his maiden half-century at M S Dhoni’s spiritual home to silence his critics as India shrugged off a poor start to post a competitive total.
Iyer, who is emerging as a solid number four, and Pant paired up for a 114-run stand for the fourth wicket after India lost opener K L Rahul (6) and skipper Virat Kohli (4) in the seventh over of the innings.
Rohit Sharma (36 off 56) too struggled on a slow surface before Iyer and Pant resurrected the innings with their gritty partnership.
A quickfire half-century partnership between Kedar Jadhav (40 off 35) and Ravindra Jadeja (21 off 21), who batted ahead of debutant Shivam Dube, provided the thrust in the slog overs.(PTI)
SCOREBOARD
India Innings:
Rohit Sharma c Pollard b Alzarri Joseph 36
K L Rahul c Hetmyer b Cottrell 6
Virat Kohli b Cottrell 4
Shreyas Iyer c Pollard b Alzarri Joseph 70
Rishabh Pant c Hetmyer b Pollard 71
Kedar Jadhav c Pollard b Keemo Paul 40
Ravindra Jadeja run out 21
Shivam Dube c Holder b Keemo Paul 9
Deepak Chahar not out 7
Mohammed Shami not out 0
Extras: (b-5, lb-5, w-11) 24
Total: 288 for 8 wkts in 50 overs
Bowling: Sheldon Cottrell 10-3-46-2, Jason Holder 8-0-45-0, Hayden Walsh 5-0-31-0, Keemo Paul 7-0-41-2, Alzarri Joseph 9-1-45-2, Roston Chase 7-0-42-0, Kieron Pollard 4-0-28-1.
West Indies Innings:
Shai Hope not out 102
Sunil Ambris lbw b Chahar 9
Shimron Hetmyer c Iyer b Mohammed Shami 139
Nicholas Pooran not out 29
Extras: (LB-4, NB-1, W-7) 12
Total: (for 2 wicket in 47.5 overs) 291
Bowling: Deepak Chahar 10-1-48-1, Mohammed Shami 9-1-57-1, Kuldeep Yadav 10-0-45-0, Shivam Dube 7.5-0-68-0, Kedar Jadhav 1-0-11-0, Ravindra Jadeja 10-0-58-0.
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