Kohli, Rohit help India beat West Indies in first ODI

KOCHI: Fifities from Virat Kohli (86) and Rohit Sharma (72) helped India beat West Indies by six wickets in the first One-day Ineternational here at the Nehru Stadium on Thursday.

Earlier, Indian spinners - left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja and part-time off-spinner Suresh Raina - took three wickets each to bowl out the West Indies for 211 in 48.5 overs.

Jadeja finished with three for 34 and Raina took three for 37. R Ashwin also chipped in with two for 42. The spinners thus accounted for eight wickets.

Chasing 212, India lost Shikhar Dhawan early for five but Rohit and Kohli put on 133 for the second wicket. The duo has been in terrific form and had a fantastic ODI series against Australia.

Rohit was dismissed against the run of play for 72. He pulled Ravi Rampaul straight to deep mid-wicket.

However, Virat was blossoming. Reaching 81, he became the fastest to complete 5,000 ODI runs. He did that in his 114th innings thus equalling the record with Vivian Richards. He brought that feat by hitting Jason Holder for a six.

Virat was dismissed off the next ball but by that time India were in a commanding position to win the game.

Raina fell to Sunil Nairne trying to take on the mystery spinner. He was dismissed for a duck. Skipper MS Dhoni and Yuvraj took India home to lead the series 1-0.