India 314 for 9 (Mandhana 91, Harleen 44, James 5-45) beat West Indies 103 (Fletcher 24, Renuka 5-29) by 211 runs
After a T20I series that went to the decider, the first of three ODIs between India and West Indies was a thoroughly one-sided fare. The hosts dominated from start to finish despite not batting to full potential, while still scoring an imposing 314 for 9, and then hardly flexed their bowling muscle to run past a West Indies line-up that folded like nine pins.
The architects of the win were Smriti Mandhana, who top scored with 91, and Renuka Singh, who had an unchanged opening spell of 8-1-19-4 en route a maiden ODI five-for. Two of those strikes happened to be of Hayley Matthews and Deandra Dottin inside the first five overs of the chase. The game was decided right there.
India will look back at their batting performance with mixed emotions despite the massive victory margin. For the first half of their innings, they appeared to be stuck in second gear, with that safety-first approach that has troubled them in ODIs lately yet again taking precedence despite Mandhana looking in sparkling form, like she has in the format all through the year.
The caution at the start was largely down to a nervous debutant - Pratika Rawal - auditioning to be Mandhana's batting partner at the top of the order after a number of experiments earlier in the month in Australia - most notably Richa Ghosh opening - fell flat.
Rawal made 40 in a 110-run opening stand but was aided by plenty of luck along the way. On 1, she gloved a tickle to the wicketkeeper, but West Indies didn't review. On 3, Afy Fletcher dropped a sitter at mid-off as she attempted her first aggressive shot. In between the two, she survived a tight run-out opportunity. To Rawal's credit, she overcame all of these to slowly build her innings, before falling to an unreal return catch to Mathews, as she threw herself full-stretch to pluck a one-handed stunner.
Mandhana brought up her half-century off 62 balls, her 28th in ODIs, and shifted gears to sweep and drive imperiously, but Harleen Deol's struggles forced her into attempting cheeky strokes, one of which had her lbw. Harleen's cautious approach at No. 3 despite a solid start made you wonder if India miscalculated by not promoting Jemimah Rodrigues or Harmanpreet Kaur.
This became evident almost immediately when Harmanpreet changed the tempo of the innings upon arrival, dashing to 32 off 20 through her trademark sweeps and ferocious lofted hits, before a mix-up with Richa Ghosh, while attempting a run to short third, cut short her innings.
Ghosh and Rodrigues played fine cameos that helped provide India the finishing kick, while also allowing them to paper over the muddle in the middle overs, with the last 20 overs bringing 160. Ghosh showed off her full range of power, timing and fineness - all in one, as she made a 13-ball 26, while Rodrigues, now seen as a finisher, made 31 off 19.
India could've scored a lot more if not for a series of rash shots towards the end that brought Zaida James, the young left-arm spinner, a maiden five-for ODIs. That, as it turned out was one of the few positives for West Indies on a forgettable night as they had no answers to Renuka's devious in-duckers that kept missing.
The effect of Renuka's spell has a mesmeric effect on the others too. Titas Sadhu picked up her first ODI wicket and young legspinner Priya Mishra delivered 4.2 crafty overs for two wickets. All told, the look of horror on Shemaine Campbelle's face when she nailed a lofted hit only for an acrobatic Harmanpreet to intercept the ball at mid-on by leaping high and pulling off a one-handed grab summed up the evening for the West Indies.
It was no less than a horror show with the bat, which they'd hope to improve on as they build towards a 50-over World Cup on these very shores in 10 months.
