PROVIDENCE: Rain halted play in the first One-day International between the West Indies and India at the Providence Stadium on Thursday with the home side at 9-0 off 5.4 overs after they were put in to bat by Indian captain Virat Kohli.

Heavy early-morning rain had already delayed the start of play by two hours, resulting in the match being reduced to 43 overs-per-side.

Veteran opening batsman Chris Gayle is playing his 299th One-day International, equalling the mark of Brian Lara for the most matches in the format by a West Indian.

If the weather improves and the innings resumes Gayle, not out on three at the break, will need 10 more runs to surpass Lara’s tally for the most runs by a West Indian in ODIs.

India will be seeking to maintain their winning streak on this tour, having completed a 3-0 sweep of the Twenty20 International series with a seven-wicket victory in the final match two days earlier at the same venue.

Teams:

WEST INDIES: Chris Gayle, Evin Lewis, Shai Hope, Shimron Hetmyer, Nicholas Pooran, Roston Chase, Jason Holder (captain), Carlos Brathwaite, Fabian Allen, Kemar Roach, Sheldon Cottrell.

INDIA: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli (captain), Shreyas Iyer, Kedar Jadhav, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Khaleel Ahmed, Kuldeep Yadav.

Umpires: Nigel Duguid (West Indies) and Adrian Holdstock (South Africa).

TV umpire: Nigel Llong (England).

Match referee: Jeff Crowe (New Zealand).

Published in Dawn, August 9th, 2019