Jamaica [West Indies]: Indian blind cricket team registered a massive 8-wicket victory over Jamaica at the Melbourne Cricket Oval in Kingston on Saturday.
Chasing a target of 118 runs, India’s Sunil Ramesh played vehemently and gave his side a brilliant start. Ramesh scored his half-century off just 23 balls. Although India lost two wickets – Chandrashekar and John David – in quick succession, it was not enough to stop the visitors from chasing down the low target.
Sunil played an unbeaten knock of 90 runs and helped India easily chase down the target to secure an eight-wicket victory over Jamaica. With this victory, India gained a 1-0 lead over the visitors in a three-match ODI series.
Earlier, Jamaica openers Ricketts and Stewart provided their side with a slow start. Indian captain Ajay Reddy handed his side with the first breakthrough in the fifth over as he sent Stewart, who scored six runs, back to pavilion.
The fall of wickets did not stop and the hosts slipped to 20/3 by the end of sixth over. However, Shim and Graham formed a crucial 43-run partnership to give their side some momentum.
Indian bowlers then came out furiously and took back to back wickets which brought the match to a point where it appeared like the Islanders will fail to cross even the 100-run mark.
But 36-run stand for the seventh wicket made that possible for Jamaica as they crossed the 100-run mark but soon after they were all out and the target for the Indian side was 118 runs.
The second ODI between both the teams will be played on July 21.
Brief scores: India 118/2 (Sunil 90, Ajay 14) defeats Jamaica 117/10 (Graham 25, James 24) by eight wickets.