Port of Spain, July 22 (UNI) Fine fifties by skipper Shikhar Dhawan, Shubnam Gill and Shreyas Iyer helped India post a massive 308/7 in the first ODI against West Indies at the Queen's Park Oval here on Friday.
Dhawan missed out on his century by three runs, but he stitched a 119-run partnership for the opening wicket along with Gill.
The Indian skipper missed his 18th ODI century. He cut the ball straight to Shamarh Brooks who took a delightful catch at point. Dhawan scored 97 runs off 99 balls and cracked 10 fours and 3 sixes in his innings.
Dhawan also became the sixth Indian batsman to be dismissed in the nineties in ODI cricket in the West Indies.
Five other batsmen who missed out on the century in the Caribbean are Sunil Gavaskar, Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Virendra Sehwag was out twice in the nervous nineties.
Gill also failed to convert his fifty into three-digits as he was run out by West Indies skipper Nicholas Pooran after scoring a solid 64 runs.
The elegant opener looked in awesome touch during his 53-ball stay at the crease as he spanked six boundaries and two sixes.
Shreyas Iyer scored 54 batting at number three, but things become difficult after the fall of Suryakumar Yadav for 13.
After their departure, India reaching the 350 mark became doubtful. However, Deepak Hooda (27) and Axar Patel (21) accelerated and helped India cross the 300 runs mark.
Gudakesh Motie and Alzarri Joseph restricted India from cruising towards huge total by bagging two wickets each
Brief scores
India 308/7 off 50 overs (Shikhar Dhawan 97, Shubman Gill 64, Shreyas Iyer 54, Deepak Hooda 27, Axar Patel 21, Suryakumar Yadav 13, Sanju Samson 12; Gudakesh Motie 2-54, Alzarri Joseph 2-61) vs West Indies.
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