Highlights, India vs West Indies, Full Cricket Score, 1st ODI match result at Guyana: Match abandoned due to rain with just 13 overs bowled

Total damp squib, then. Can’t be too much either side could take away from it, although Evin Lewis will be a happy man to have some runs flowing from his blade again. Can only hope for better weather in Trinidad, with Port of Spain hosting the two remaining ODIs – for now, the forecast says only a 20% chance of showers on either day (Sunday and Wednesday). Here’s hoping!

So that’s about it. Match has been abandoned. Just 13 overs bowled today, courtesy of the rain.

The cut off time for any this match to be curatiled to a 20-over game, which is also the final chance for the game to resume is 4 pm local time. That makes it 1.30 pm Indian time. So we still have over 50 minutes to see if there could be a game possible today.

As we wait for an official word on this match, why don’t you quickly have a look at T20I series highlights. 

First T20I here .

Second T20I here .

Third T20I here .

Chances getting bleaker for resumption of play.

It has started to rain again. And it has become darker. Grim chances now #WIvIND

— Anand Subramaniam (@28anand) August 8, 2019

Does not look good. Repeat: Does not look good. 

There are more clouds in the background. Its turned all gloomy here though the groundsmen are getting the covers on and off #WIvIND

— Anand Subramaniam (@28anand) August 8, 2019

C.O.R.R.E.C.T.

Feeling terrible for the fans who have come out on a weekday to watch the cricket. Weather’s been a proper joke today 🌧☀️🌧☀️🌧☀️🌧☀️ pic.twitter.com/KPn5xxdhz3

— Gaurav Kapur (@gauravkapur) August 8, 2019

Will we see a resumption in play anytime soon? 

It is raining heavily here in Guyana. Not the best sight,. Pouring literally #WIvIND pic.twitter.com/sfGdbrDFuV

— Anand Subramaniam (@28anand) August 8, 2019

Guyana crowd has been very patient with the rain so far. 

Soon this match will be reduced to a 20-over shoot out, or even abandoned. Inclement weather’s always been a problem in Guyana which has probably the most ardent cricket fans in the Caribbean

— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) August 8, 2019

Big wicket this for India. They need to see his back quickly when they come out to field again. 

Shai Hope is the ideal candidate on take on the Indian spinners here. Across his ODI career, he has scored 1127 runs averaging 86.7 against spin bowlers. Since his debut, only Kohli (1360), Rohit (1233) and Root (1145) have scored more runs facing spin in ODIs. #WIvIND

— The CricViz Analyst (@cricvizanalyst) August 8, 2019

Bad news. Again. Rain is back. Covers are back on. Players back in the dressing room. More wait and eventually more frustration. We will keep you updated with all the happenings. Stay tuned.

After 13 overs,West Indies 54/1 ( Evin Lewis 40 , Shai Hope (W) 6)

Brave move from Kohli. Khaleel back on while Lewis is still there. This will give the young man a lot of confidence. Started off with good length before going to back of the length and then delivered a bumper. He mixed it up very well in this over. One slower one as well to keep the batsmen guessing. Good comeback by Khaleel. Just 4 off the over.

Shai Hope’s batting average in ODIs:

Home : 36.11
Away : 61.77
Neutral: 47.62

After 12 overs,West Indies 50/1 ( Evin Lewis 39 , Shai Hope (W) 3)

Ravindra Jadeja, left-arm orthodox, brought into the attack. Khaleel off. And rightly so. He was not able to find the right line and length. Also Lewis was aiming him in particular to break the shackles. Turn is there and better that both spinners slow down the pace of the game.

Four runs from 30 balls in the first 10 overs, and the pressure tells on Chris Gayle immediately. This is exactly the situation Kuldeep Yadav thrives in: a batsman struggling to get runs and looking at a spinner as the outlet to free-scoring. It was always coming. Shai Hope can’t take as long to get in as he usually likes to given the match scenario.

After 11 overs,West Indies 44/1 ( Evin Lewis 35 , Shai Hope (W) 1)

Kuldeep removes Gayle. The ball was there to be hit but Gayle was no where near the delivery while he attempted to clear the ropes. Shai Hope, right handed bat, comes to the crease. He is a calm head and Windies would want him to stay there as soon as possible. Successful over for India. Just 2 off it and a wicket.

OUT! Kuldeep strikes and he strikes big, he has removed Gayle, who saw flight and was lured to go for the big shot, he attempted, however the ball took the inside edge and clipped the bails. Gayle b Kuldeep Yadav 4(31)

After 10 overs,West Indies 42/0 ( Chris Gayle 4 , Evin Lewis 34)

Khaleel continues. He shortened his length a little. But it is not helping. Lewis is taking him on. There was one instance when he walked in to his shot. Clearly the message is to attack Khaleel.

SIX! Lewis goes for it again, short ball from Khaleel, batsman picks it up early and he pulls it away for six over deep mid-wicket.

After 9 overs,West Indies 34/0 ( Chris Gayle 3 , Evin Lewis 27)

Kuldeep Yadav, left-arm chinaman, comes into the attack. What a delivery to start the over. Pitched on middle-off stump line to Gayle and turns away. There is a slip as well. Brilliant first over from Kuldeep. Gayle still looking to settle in. Just 1 off the over.

After 8 overs,West Indies 33/0 ( Chris Gayle 3 , Evin Lewis 26)

Khaleel Ahmed, left-arm fast medium, comes into the attack now and he starts off with a boundary. We can already see Lewis wanting to attack after the rain-break. The match has been curtailed and one among the two openers need to all guns blazing. But also poor bowling from Khaleel. 15 off the over, the best so far for hosts.

FOUR! Yet again, bad line, and Lewis now aim the long on boundary, thumps it for four to that region. Khaleel is under pressure.

SIX! That has been smashed again, short ball from Khaleel and Lewis svivels in crease and hits it over backward square leg.

FOUR! Khaleel Ahmed comes into the attack and he starts off with a bad ball, on Lewis’ legs and he flicked it for four to fine leg.

After 7 overs,West Indies 18/0 ( Chris Gayle 3 , Evin Lewis 11)

Bhuvneshwar continues. Lewis gets beaten and gets beaten again. The two wides down the leg stump line, it gives breather for the left-handed batsman, next ball he hits it for a six over deep mid-wicket. Nine off the over.

SIX! Lewis has had enough of defending, he was in very good position to this slightly short ball and he banged it over the deep mid-wicket fielder for four runs.

After 6 overs,West Indies 9/0 ( Chris Gayle 3 , Evin Lewis 4)

Shami completes the sixth over finally. Rain and then the damp outfield made delays after delays. Shami came back bowled the two remaining deliveries and both of them are dots. Just 1 off the over.

Alright, Shami is counting his run-up. Finally he will finish the sixth over. Hopefully. 

New update, folks. Match is now reduced to 34 overs-a-side contest.

Sigh! 

This is poor. Bright sunshine and no play.

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) August 8, 2019

Update: Umpires will do inspection at 10.30 PM IST. ​

Kohli showing the danger area on the ground which was still damp. This is what keeps players out of the ground in dressing rooms as they wait for ground staff to fix it.

South Africa’s Hashim Amla has enjoyed quite a memorable stint with his national team, scoring 55 centuries and 88 half-centuries across the three international formats. Here’s how Twitter reacted to his announcement.

The wet patch on the field is troubling the umpires, officials and the ground staff. Umpires having a chat with the two captains, giving an insight into what is going on. We will be back some update soon.

Alright more delay. Players were out in the middle, waiting to resume the play. However, umpires were not happy with the some patches around the pitch which were still not dry. But the stoppage won’t be for too long.

Back to play. Kohli and Co, batsmen come out in the middle. Shami will complete the sixth over.

New Update: Match will resume at 9:50 pm IST. It has been further reduced to 40 overs-a-side contest!

So many doubted you early on, but your fighting spirit, humility & incredible one of a kind talent took u to the top of the mountain and ultimately to one of the best players in the world, writes AB de Villiers on Twitter for Hashim Amla who announced his retirement minutes ago. Check more reactions here .

West Indies, and Gayle, reverting to their template from the (successful) home series against England earlier this year. In two games where the hosts batted first, Gayle scored a total of 34 runs off 64 balls in the batting powerplay (first 10 overs) – both innings ended in 50+ scores, one of them a massive 135 off 129. The stop-start nature of this contest though, given the cloud cover around Guyana, will make it difficult for the man from Jamaica to get into his groove.

In a news just in a few minutes back, Hashim Amla has announced retirement from all forms of international cricket after 15 years. You can read up on all of that here .

Ughhhh! 

The rain is back, folks. Ground staff running in with covers. Players are out of the field. Stay tuned for more updates.

Mohammed Shami has taken 33 wickets this year in ODIs – the most by any Indian bowler.

After 5 overs,West Indies 8/0 ( Chris Gayle 3 , Evin Lewis 3)

Bhuvneshwar continues. India missed to take review for LBW on the penultimate ball of the last over. The ball tracker shows that ball was hitting the stumps. Three reds actually. Just 1 off this over.

After 4 overs,West Indies 7/0 ( Chris Gayle 3 , Evin Lewis 2)

Shami bowls a few fuller-length deliveries in this over, while Lewis picks up two leg-bye runs . Four runs from this one although the Windies are yet to register their first boundary.

After 3 overs,West Indies 3/0 ( Evin Lewis 1, Chris Gayle 2)

Just one run from Bhuvi’s over. Gayle pushes a length ball towards mid-off to grab the lone run in the over and retain strike.

Iyer at 4

So clear message that Shreyas Iyer is no 4 going ahead and KL Rahul will be the 3rd opener.

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) August 8, 2019

After 2 overs,West Indies 2/0 ( Evin Lewis 1 , Chris Gayle 1)

Evin Lewis gets off the mark for Windies as Mohammed Shami is introduced. Shami bowls a short-length delivery which Lewis plays towards third man for a single. Gayle, too, gets off the mark as Windies finish the over with a couple of runs.

This is the first time after 2008 (52.66) that Chris Gayle is averaging above 50 (2019 – 55.50) in a calendar year in ODIs.

After 1 overs,West Indies 1/0 ( Evin Lewis 1 , Sunil Narine 0)

Bhuvneshwar Kumar is brought into the attack as Gayle faces the first ball. Starts off with a good length ball and Gayle beats the bowler on the outside edge. A maiden over to begin the match.

Chris Gayle is playing his 296th ODI for West Indies – the most, going past Brian Lara’s 295 ODIs for West Indies.

The players make their way out to the middle, with openers Evin Lewis and Chris Gayle coming out to bat for West Indies

West Indies continue their all-rounder overdose. Five specialist batsmen, four ‘bits-and-pieces’ options (wonder what Sanjay Manjrekar makes of this team!), two specialist pacers. While on one side that sees them bat till nine, do Holder, Brathwaite, Chase and Allen have 30 overs in them?

KL Rahul could feel hard done by his omission, but it possibly reflects better clarity. Rahul was only a number four-designate for the World Cup owing to the bizarre selectorial mess India found themselves going into the campaign. But his stronger suit, undoubtedly, remains at the top of the order, and with no immediate 50-over big event around the horizon, India are best served by finding full-fledged picks for every position. The way I see it, Rahul will remain the first-choice back-up for the top-order, while Iyer/Pant/Pandey jostle about for the middle-order spots.

India have left out Yuzvendra Chahal, Navdeep Saini, KL Rahul and Manish Pandey as Kohli has stressed that the team management is looking to provide more oppurtunities to youngsters.

Chris Gayle needs 11 more runs to go past Brian Lara to become West Indies’ leading run-scorer in ODI cricket.

India take the expected route given the rain around and go in with the three pacers. Kuldeep was always going to be preferred to Chahal given the barrage of left-handers in the WI lineup. In the same vein, Jadhav probably makes the cut over Pandey solely because of the overs he could chip in with.

West Indies Playing XI: Jason Holder (Captain), Shai Hope (Wicket-keeper), Evin Lewis, Chris Gayle, Shimron Hetmyer, Nicholas Pooran,  Roston Chase,  Carlos Brathwaite, Fabian Allen, Sheldon Cottrell, Kemar Roach.

India Playing XI: Virat Kohli(Captain), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Rishabh Pant(Wicket-keeper), Shreyas Iyer, Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, K Khaleel Ahmed, Mohammed Shami.

Toss update: Virat Kohli has won the toss and India will field first.

The wait is finally over! 

It's all clear here in Guyana.

Toss at 11 AM local, 8.30 PM IST. Play to start at 11.30 AM local. It will be a 43 overs a side game.#WIvIND pic.twitter.com/zap40xeeFI

— BCCI (@BCCI) August 8, 2019

Good news for fans! The toss will take place at 8.30 PM IST, and will be a 43-overs match.

Well, we are still waiting for the actual contest to begin. 

A contest between the cloud ☁️ and ☀️ at the moment here in Guyana. We are still waiting for the skies to clear #WIvIND pic.twitter.com/4EsQ1PvI1F

— BCCI (@BCCI) August 8, 2019

Looks like we are in for a longer wait! 

#WIvIND 1st ODI:
Update: It has started drizzling again.
Players are still practicing on the field, but pitch is under cover now.

— Rajneesh Gupta (@rgcricket) August 8, 2019

As the frustrating wait continues ahead of the ODI series opener, you can switch tabs and follow all the latest transfers and signings from the Deadline Day LIVE blog here

“From a West Indian perspective, the steady stream of confusion continues. Chris Gayle is allowed his extended retirement party (maybe the Universe Boss is eyeing Brian Lara’s WI record, which is all of 12 runs away from him now), as a result of which they cannot bring together a potential opening pairing to take them on to the road to 2023. Rovman Powell was among their most impressive batsmen in the T20Is, but he doesn’t find a spot in the ODI squad. Sunil Narine and Andre Russell? God alone knows. For all the fire, the frivolity of selections perhaps tells you they finished second-from-bottom at the World Cup.”

The Kiwi skipper is not missing out on any fun! 

Kane Williamson - The most loved cricketer in the world celebrating his 29th birthday in an unusual way. #Champion #SLvNZ @BLACKCAPS @ThePapareSports pic.twitter.com/ZWaQbqyXPn

— Damith Weerasinghe (@Damith1994) August 8, 2019

Here’s some huge relief! 

#WIvIND 1st ODI
Update: The rain has completely stopped and the ground-staff is clearing the water from the covers. Bright and sunny right now.

— Rajneesh Gupta (@rgcricket) August 8, 2019

The long wait continues! Not a sight you would want to see as a cricket fan. 

Not an ideal start. Rain has delayed the toss for the first ODI between India and West Indies ☂️ #WIvIND pic.twitter.com/nCxiPUGZxQ

— ICC (@ICC) August 8, 2019

West Indies Team Players: Chris Gayle, Evin Lewis, Shimron Hetmyer, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Jason Holder (c), Carlos Brathwaite, Shai Hope, Fabian Allen, Kemar Roach, Oshane Thomas, Shannon Gabriel, Sheldon Cottrell, Roston Chase, John Cambell, Keemo Paul.

While we wait for the rain to recede, take a look at the ODI squads, starting with India. 

India Team Players: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli (c), Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Lokesh Rahul, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal. Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed. Rishabh Pant (wk).

Stat Alert:

West Indies have won only two of their last 14 ODIs against India.

India have won each of their last eight bilateral ODI series against West Indies.

Toss has been delayed due to rain. There is no official time for when it is going to take next. Hopefully when the rain subsides, we will see officials checking the conditions and then deciding on the time of toss. Stay tuned for more updates.

Here’s an update from BCCI

Heavy showers at the moment here in Guyana. We are waiting for the skies to clear 🌧️🌧️ #WIvIND pic.twitter.com/FJ6NStFIXl

— BCCI (@BCCI) August 8, 2019

Visuals coming in from Guyana are not too heartening. The rain is pouring down heavily and the ground is covered with the covers. Stay tuned for more updates.

“Interested to see what bowling combination India go with. One would assume Ravindra Jadeja is a shoo-in for the number seven slot, so do India go with three pacers and one of the wrist spinners, or play both the “wristies” while sacrificing a pace bowler? The presence of rain and cloud cover could tip the scales in favour of three fast-bowling options, but the sluggishness of the surface, as seen during India’s chase in the final T20I, could tempt one towards three spinners.”

“Weeks out of one four-year cycle, standing at the cusp of the next one, yet, amazingly, the first question around the Indian ODI setup remains the same: Who will bat at number four? (How cute of all of us to assume we’d seen the last of that nation-gripping plague of a question)

There are 15 Indian players assembled in the Caribbean, and of them, any SIX (yes) could raise enough arguments in favour of getting that position: Kohli, Rahul, Pant, Jadhav, Iyer, Pandey.

In 88 innings from the end of the 2015 World Cup to the end of the latest edition last month, India used 13 different players at number four – only three of them occupied that spot on 10 or more occasions, and none did so more than 14 times.

Regardless of who wins this latest lottery, the biggest learning, or the need of the hour, has to be for the merry-go-round to end. Give someone the responsibility, and back them enough to take a calculated call after a substantial number of opportunities. My pick? Shreyas Iyer or Manish Pandey.”

Time to break the duck?

It’s not going to be easy for West Indies. They haven’t won a bilateral ODI series against India since 2006!

The Cricket World Cup is over. The next one is after four years. Plenty of ODIs will be played over the period, and a lot of them will be plain meaningless. After suffering World Cup heartbreak against New Zealand in the semi-final last month, India will start afresh in new ODI cycle in the lead up to 2023 World Cup. Can India finally sort out that No 4 conundrum and the middle order problem? 

With one eye on building the team for the World T20 World Cup 2020, the West Indies T20I series presented a chance for India’s fresh faces and comeback men to impress in their first audition – in the Caribbean.

With increasing competition for places, pouncing on any opportunity is vital. Well, most players managed to impress as India completed their second consecutive bilateral series clean sweep over the West Indies in the USA and the Caribbean. 

Before the ODIs get underway, here’s a quick recap and takeaways from the T20I series .

The universe boss, Chris Gayle, is back and he needs just 11 runs to surpass Brian Lara as West Indies’ leading run-scorer in ODIs.

India have started off the tour with a bang with a 3-0 cleansweep in the T20I series. West Indies, on the other hand, have struggled in the format for quite some time now. And they would be looking to start afresh by putting behind the disappointments of World Cup and the T20I series loss.

Hello and welcome to Firstpost where we bring you LIVE coverage of the first ODI between India and West Indies. Stay tuned for latest scores and updates.