As Virat Kohli’s men gear up for three-match ODI series against West Indies, we recall how India registered their first-ever ODI win against the then mighty Windies.
India clean swept West Indies 3-0 in the T20I series and the Men in Blue will now move on to the three-match ODI series against the Caribbean that starts Thursday in Guyana.
Heading into the series, India are said to have an upper hand over the hosts given West Indies’ pathetic run in the 50-overs format in past years and their ICC ranking. India are placed only below current world champions England in the ICC team ODI rankings while West Indies are 9th in the list, better placed only than newcomers Afghanistan and Ireland.
While one talks about the West Indies they are likely to describe them as a disintegrated unit and a side that is limited to its dominance only in the shortest format of the cricket. At least that is the impression they have created. However, that wasn’t the case always.
West Indies were the first team to be crowned the world champions in 1975. By 1979, they were two-time champions and had developed a reputation of being undefeatable in the ODI format. So when India had embarked on one of cricket’s toughest assignments – a tour against Clive Lloyd’s intimidating West Indies- a defeat was certainly on their mind.
Having lost the first Test and ODI and drawn the second Test of their tour, India came to Berbice for the second ODI where Lloyd put India to bat.
Sunil Gavaskar, who had just been sacked as India captain after a disastrous tour of Pakistan, came in to open. At the other end of the crease was Ravi Shastri, who was opening for the first time in an ODI.
Leave a Reply