IND vs WI 1st ODI 2022: Team India’s wicket-keeper batsman Sanju Samson was given preference over Ishan Kishan in the first ODI against West Indies. Though he didn’t do much with the bat, he justified his selection with excellent wicketkeeping throughout the match, especially in the last over. West Indies needed 15 runs in the last over to win. Romario Shepherd was at the crease after scoring 31 off 21 balls and Akil Hossein scoring 32 off 30 balls.
Shikhar Dhawan gave the ball to Mohammad Siraj in the last over. Shepherd hit a boundary on the third ball and after that the right-arm bowler came under pressure. Two runs came off the next ball. The hosts needed 8 runs from 2 balls to win and Siraj bowled the ball far outside the leg side. Due to this, the heartbeats of the Indian fans increased, but Samson saved the boundary by diving full length.
Sanju Samson saves a four with a fine drive
If the ball had gone outside the boundary line, the Caribbean team would have got 5 runs and the ball would not have been counted. After this, 3 runs in 2 balls would have been needed to win, which would have been easily achieved by the pair of Shepherd and Hossein. Only 3 runs came off the next two balls after Samson saved a four. Team India won the match by 3 runs.
Former India opener Aakash Chopra told the difference of the match-saving four by Sanju Samson. He said that it would have been 100 percent boundary and the match would have gone to West Indies. Batting first, Team India put up a big score with the help of opener Shikhar Dhawan’s 97 and Shubman Gill’s 64 runs. Apart from this, Shreyas Iyer played an innings of 54 runs.
Team India scored 308 runs for 7 wickets in 50 overs. West Indies scored 305 for 6 with the help of Kyle Meyers 75, Shermah Brooks 46 and Brendan King 54 in reply to the target of 309 runs. Akil Hossein remained unbeaten on 32 and Romario Shepherd made 39. For Team India, Mohammad Siraj, Prasidh Krishna and Yuzvendra Chahal took 2 wickets each.