Kuldeep and Jadeja achieve monumental feat as Team India demolishes West Indies for second-lowest total in 1st ODI
The bowling duo of Kuldeep and Jadeja has achieved a monumental feat as India demolished the West Indies for its second-lowest total.
Left-arm spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja sparked a shocking batting collapse of the West Indies in the 1st One Day International (ODI) of the three-match series on Thursday. Winning the toss and opting to bowl first at the Kensington Oval in Barbados, Rohit's Team India turned the series opener into a low-scoring contest as the spin-bowling duo of Jadeja and Kuldeep bowled West Indies out for 114 runs in just 23 overs.
West Indies skipper Shai Hope top-scored for the hosts with a fighting 43 off 45 balls. Besides Hope and premier batter Alick Athanaze, no West Indies batter managed to cross the 20-run mark in the series opener against India at Bridgetown. In a match where speedster Mukesh Kumar made his ODI debut, spin wizard Kuldeep emerged as the pick of the bowlers for the visitors.
Spinner Kuldeep bagged four wickets and leaked just 6 runs. While Kuldeep picked up four crucial wickets, his partner-in-crime Jadeja got the better of Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell and Romario Shepherd. Interestingly, Jadeja picked up the wickets of Powell and Shepherd in the same over. Sharing seven wickets in the 1st ODI, the bowling duo of Jadeja and Kuldeep also scripted history in the 50-over format.
The duo of Kuldeep (4/6) and Jadeja (3/37) has become the first-ever pair of Indian left-arm spinners to take seven wickets or more in an ODI. The bowling heroics of Jadeja and Kuldeep also forced the West Indies to register its second-lowest total (114) against India in the 50-over format. India had earlier demolished the West Indies for 104 in Thiruvananthapuram 2018.
"The way the pacers bowled was really good, Mukesh and Shardul in particular. And then Jadeja and I could handle things, the ball was spinning a bit. We had to control our lengths and the wickets were easy to get. I have been working on my rhythm and it has been amazing. The ball is coming out nicely and I’m very pleased with it. I have also been varying the pace and in the white-ball format, my focus is on hitting the right lengths," Kuldeep said during the innings break.
