Nicholas Pooran-led West Indies put up a brilliant fight against India in the first ODI but ended up suffering a close defeat in the thrilling game. Not many had expected West Indies to put up a big challenge in front of India.

The hosts had entered the game on the back of a humiliating 3-0 defeat in the ODI series against Bangladesh at home earlier this month. In all those three games, the hosts had failed to touch the 200-run mark.

West Indies, however, surprised everyone by putting up a stunning fight against India and nearly pulled off a thrilling win. Chasing 309, the home side eventually fell short by just three runs as they finished on 305 for 6.

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Kyle Mayers and Brandon King scored fifties to lay the foundation for the chase before Romario Shepherd and Akeal Hosein nearly pulled off the win for their team. With 54 runs needed from the last 5 overs, Shepherd did the bulk of the scoring in the last overs but he and his partner eventually managed to collect 50 runs,

Like a win for us: Nicholas Pooran:

While West Indies suffered a heartbreaking defeat, their skipper Nicholas Pooran was delighted with the team’s effort. Speaking at the end of the game, the West Indies skipper said that the defeat ‘feels like a win for us’.

Nicholas Pooran further hoped that his team could go from strength to strength after the brilliant effort as he set his sights on the remainder of the series. The left-handed batsman, who scored 25, also praised his bowlers for restricting India to 308.

“Feels like a win for us. Bittersweet, but yeah we keep talking about batting 50 overs and everyone saw what we are capable of and hopefully we can go strength to strength from here. Looking forward to the rest of the series,” said Nicholas Pooran.

“It was a good batting track and our bowlers did a commendable job to restrict them. It’s difficult to lose but we will take this one. We need to believe in each other and I keep telling everyone that we will have our challenges, but important to focus on the positives,” he added.

The second and penultimate match of the three-match series is scheduled to be played on Sunday (July 24). West Indies will be desperate to win the upcoming game to keep the series alive.

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