West Indies beat India by eight wickets to take 1-0 lead
Chennai, Dec 15: Shimron Hetmyer smashed a career-best 139 ahead of next week's IPL auction, toying with an ordinary looking Indian attack to set up an eight-wicket win for West Indies in the ODI series opener here on Sunday.
Chasing 288 on a slow surface was expected to be a challenging task but thanks to Hetmyer (139 off 106) and opener Shai Hope (102 not out off 150), the visitors raced to victory in 47.5 overs.
The duo shared a decisive 218-run stand for the second wicket after the fall of Sunil Ambris in the fifth over.
India had recovered to 287 for eight after being put in to bat with Shreyas Iyer (70 off 88) scoring his third consecutive half-century and Rishabh Pant (71 off 69) returning to form to silence his critics.
The lack of a specialist fifth bowler hurt India as the combination of debutant Shivam Dube (0/68 in 7.5 overs) and Kedar Jadhav (0/11 in one over) leaked 79 runs in 8.5 overs overs.
Hetmyer was unstoppable en route to his fifth ODI century, smashing as many as seven sixes including the one that hit the roof. Most of his big hits went sailing over the deep mid-wicket boundary.
Hope gave solid support to Hetmyer and deservingly completed his eighth ODI hundred. Another talented southpaw like Hetmyer, Nicholas Pooran (29 not out off 23), hit back-to-back boundaries to register a memorable win for West Indies.
The second game of the three-match series will be played in Visakhapatnam on Wednesday.
Earlier, Pant struck his maiden half-century at M S Dhoni's spiritual home to silence his critics as India shrugged off a poor start to post a competitive total.
Iyer, who is emerging as a solid number four, and Pant paired up for a 114-run stand for the fourth wicket after India lost opener K L Rahul (6) and skipper Virat Kohli (4) in the seventh over of the innings.
Rohit Sharma (36 off 56) too struggled on a slow surface before Iyer and Pant resurrected the innings with their gritty partnership.
A quickfire half-century partnership between Kedar Jadhav (40 off 35) and Ravindra Jadeja (21 off 21), who batted ahead of debutant Shivam Dube, provided the thrust in the slog overs.
Left-arm paceman Sheldon Cottrell (2/46 from 10 overs including 3 maidens), Keemo Paul (2/41) and Alzarri Joseph (2/45) were among the wickets for the visiting team.
The home team appeared to be in a spot of bother at 80 for three in the 19th over on a sluggish pitch when Iyer and Pant came together. After taking their time to get going, the two played some splendid shots and were not afraid to hit the ball in the air when the opportunity presented itself.
The fact that the first six of the innings came in the 28th over when Pant smashed offie Roston Chase over mid-wicket was an indicator of the slow proceedings.
Iyer displayed his class as he came up with some lovely cuts against the spinners-Chase and leggie Hayden Walsh. Pant, on his part, showed patience and hit some powerful shots after gaining in confidence and assessing the nature of the pitch.
The two handled the spinners well and hit a six each apart from some well-timed drives.
Iyer perished after a well-made 70 with his dismissal coming against the run of play, when his flick landed in the safe hands of Pollard off Joseph's bowling, ending a brilliant 114-run fourth wicket partnership with Pant.
Pant fell going for a big hit, caught by Hetmyer in the deep of Pollard's bowling. It was a much needed knock for an under-fire Pant, who is seen as Dhoni's heir apparent.
Then the duo of Jadeja and Jadhav, who both play for Chennai Super Kings under Dhoni in the IPL, joined hands for a crucial 59-run stand for the sixth wicket during the course of which they batted judiciously and ran well between the wickets.
While Jadhav holed out to Pollard off Paul, Jadeja was run out. Jadeja was beaten by a Roston Chase throw but was initially not given out. An appeal by a West Indian fielder resulted in the on-field umpire going upstairs, following which the Indian southpaw was declared out.
India got off to a slowish start as Sheldon Cottrell bowled two maiden overs to start with and Jason Holder did not give away much as the openers Rohit and Rahul chose to play cautiously.
After Rahul's dismissal, Kohli walked in to a roar from the Chepauk crowd and played an imperious on-drive off the fourth ball he faced. In an anti-climax, he fell the next ball, bowled off the inside edge as he tried to run one from Cottrell down to the third-man area.
Rohit gained in confidence and scored a couple of boundaries including a superb straight drive off Holder in the 10th over. He appeared set for a big score before he hit Joseph's first ball in the match tamely to Pollard at mid-wicket to be dismissed for 36 (56 balls, 6 fours).
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Nine Naxalites carrying cumulative bounty of Rs 43 lakh surrender in Chhattisgarh
Sukma, Jan 11: Nine hardcore Naxalites, allegedly involved in attacks on security forces and carrying a cumulative bounty of Rs 43 lakh, surrendered in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district on Saturday, police said.
The cadres, including two women, turned themselves in before senior officials from the police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) here, citing disappointment with "hollow" and "inhuman" Maoist ideology and infighting within the outlawed outfit, Sukma Superintendent of Police Kiran Chavan said.
He said the surrendered Naxalites were also impressed by the state government's 'Niyad Nellanar' (your good village) scheme, which aims at facilitating development works in remote villages and stated that senior cadres were on backfoot with the increasing pressure of security forces and setting up of police camps in interior areas.
The official said Ransai alias Oyam Buska (34), the commander of platoon no 24 of Maoists, and Pradip alias Ravva Rakesh (20), a member under a company wing of PLGA battalion no. 1, were carrying a reward of Rs 8 lakh each.
He said four other cadres carried a reward of Rs 5 lakh, a woman Naxalite carried a reward of Rs 3 lakh, and two others, including a woman, carried a bounty of Rs 2 lakh each.
Chavan said Ransai was allegedly involved in attacks, including the Jhara Ghati ambush in Narayanpur district in 2007, wherein seven policemen were killed; the 2007 Ranibodli (Bijapur district) attack, in which 55 security personnel died; the 2017 ambush in Burkapal (Sukma), where 25 CRPF personnel were killed and the 2020 Minpa ambush (Sukma) that killed 17 security personnel.
The other surrendered cadres were also involved in multiple attacks on security forces, he said.
Personnel from Konta police station, District Reserve Guard (DRG), Intelligence Branch Team and 2nd and 223rd battalions played a crucial role in their surrender, he said.
The official said the surrendered Naxalites were provided Rs 25,000 each and will be further rehabilitated as per the government's policy.
Last year, 792 Naxalites had surrendered in the Bastar region, comprising seven districts, including Sukma.
