India vs West Indies, 1st ODI at Kochi, , Nov 21 2013 - Match Result

Well that is it from Kochi. The first ODI is done and dusted with India winning by four wickets, thanks to the performances of India's spinners, along with the twin innings from Rohit and Virat. West Indies will need to reflect on how they applied themselves with the bat, and where their bowlers could have tightened up their disciplines. Hope you enjoyed the match as much as we did. Till then, on behalf of Alagappan Muthu and the scorers, this is Rohan Sharma bidding you a good night (or morning) wherever you are!.

Virat Kohli, Man of the Match: When we fielded I sorted out how to play, needed to play with a straight bat. Just wanted to play as straight and late as I can close to the body. Started timing it well so it gave me confidence and kept me going from there. The ball might keep low at any point of time so need to keep a straight bat. Me and Rohit were conscious about playing as straight as we can. The idea was to just play straight and keep rotating the strike. Usually Shikhar and Rohit were giving us a good start, but Shikhar went out early. I just watch the ball and react. Later on we switches gears and it was nice to have to bat with him (Rohit). Last year we played here against England and the crowd was fantastic. It's always nice to have a stadium so full of people and loud like this. It helps to pep you up. It's very different, I mean coming to November end, imagine what it must be like in June or May? We were out of steam and everyone was struggling. It was different conditions and we had to battle it out.

MS Dhoni, India captain: I think it was a fantastic performance. Could have been even better if one of the batsmen scored a 100. I think the spinners did the job for us. We didn't start very well, with the ball coming on nicely. There was a bit of variable bounce which assisted our fast bowlers. Overall I think the spinners did the job and keep the pressure on. It was not easy for the opposition to rotate the strike, so they had to go for the big strokes. I thought it was a wicket where the spinners can do the job, so I thought let's start with Raina. He bowls slightly flattish and can be of good effect with the variable bounce. The first wicket he got didn't bounce much. Ashwin we had a few overs, plus Jadeja, so it was hard for the right handers to hit Jadeja, with the lower order batsmen batting left-handed. I think they (Dhawan, Rohit, Virat) have been batting really well. Again Virat was brilliant. I thought our bowlers did well and the batsmen negotiated the new ball really well. There was not many runs to be scored, but still they batted really well, especially of Narine who was spinning it both ways. Crowd has been fantastic, and keeping in mind of the humidity, it takes the toll on the body when you have to play three games. The crowd came out in good numbers, so even if it was hot for us, it was even worse for them. It takes a lot of toil so let's have a good rest now.

Dwayne Bravo, West Indies captain: We fell short of our batting target. We felt we were below par. We have to take responsibility for this. We didn't adjust to the style of play. It's not a 300 or 290 wicket, if you can get to 250 it could have been a bit different. Rampaul and Holder bowled very well so that is good signs for us going into the next game. We got out at the wrong time, apart from Samuels and Bravo who had two balls beyond their control. I think it's a very small ground so our batters are aggressive by nature, so when the field is spread or the spinners come on, we don't have the ability to rotate the strike. Batting first and posting a poor total is not good enough.

We will be back for the match presentation in just a little while.

Rohit Sharma, India batsman: It wasn't an easy wicket to bat on. It was a two-paced wicket. It was good to get that partnership, and me and Virat managed to do well. It was keeping low and just climbing a little bit. Once we got through that initial phase we were able to put on a big partnership. As you must have seen it was just not easy to play your strokes, so it was important to take some time out and see what is happening and what the wicket looks like. I played a bad shot, I must accept that, but that shot was really on as I was batting well. I was thinking if Rampaul was bowling back of length, then I must go through with that shot, even when it skidded to me. The spinners chipped in with wickets at the right time. We put pressure and fielded well to make the batsmen play shots, even if the wicket did not allow it. Even the fast bowlers bowled well initially.

And with that streaky shot and let-off by the keeper, India win the first of this three-ODI match series by six wickets. Dhoni and Yuvraj in vintage fashion seal the contest, but it was the spinners who prospered the most on this track. Innings from Rohit and Kohli seemed to take all the sting out of the pitch, after it was made to look like a real minefield, especially with the number of deliveries that stayed low and accounted for West Indian wickets. Kohli was able to knock off the remaining 81 required to go level with Viv Richards as the fastest to 5000 ODI career runs, while Rohit just missed out on what would have been a fourth international ton on the trot.

Dwayne Bravo now into the attack in place of Jason Holder

deep square leg, deep third man in place

Gully in place

vasi: "Yuvi, Jaddu and Raina are the 3 weak links in our batting!!! Kohli , Rohit and Dhawan are hiding them!!!"

Looks like MSD has to finish things off. Four around the bat. Two slips and a leg slip with a short mid-on and short midwicket

Alok Rathi: "Dhoni would now justify Raina's place in the team as an allrounder? I am a fan of Dhoni, but his persistence with Raina is baffling!! You have Yuvraj in the team who any day is a better bowler and batsmen than Raina. Raina has barely played any match winning innings, and is keeping the likes of Rahane or Raydu or for that matter even Binny on the sidelines who would probably fare much better as an extra batsmen coming in at 6."

slip and leg slip for Raina