IND vs WI: Difficult To Lose This One But Important To Focus On The Positives - Nicholas Pooran After 3-run Loss In 1st ODI

West Indies captain Nicholas Pooran admitted the defeat in the first ODI is a hard pill to swallow as they fell short by an agonizing three runs against India on Friday.

After the Windies’ bowlers did well to pull things back in the first innings, the batting lineup fought hard with contributions from Kyle Mayers (75 off 68) and Brandon King (54 off 66).

Romario Shepherd (39 off 25) almost pulled off a stunning win in the company of Akeal Hosein but Mohammed Siraj held his nerve in the final over to ensure India takes a 1-0 lead in the 3-match series.

“Feels like a win for us. Bittersweet, but yeah we keep talking about batting 50 overs and everyone saw what we are capable of and hopefully we can go strength to strength from here,” Pooran said in the post-match presentation ceremony.

Batting first, India rode on Shikhar Dhawan (97 off 99) and Shubman Gill’s (64 off 53) opening partnership. India was 213/1 in the 34th over before a middle-order lapse saw them crawl to 308 in the first innings.

“Looking forward to the rest of the series. It was a good batting track and our bowlers did a commendable job to restrict them. It’s difficult to lose but we will take this one. We need to believe in each other and I keep telling everyone that we will have our challenges, but important to focus on the positives,” he added.

Final scores of WI vs IND, First ODI:

India – 308/7 in 50 overs

West Indies – 305/6 in 50 overs

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