A game so close, so tense that it even got the better of the emotions of the usually calm Rahul Dravid. The rather stoic Team India head coach was seen showing rarely seen nervousness as the India-West Indies ODI match on Friday got closer when in its last stages.
Eventually, Dravid’s nerves finally settled down when India won the game on the last ball, but by a margin of only 3 runs which meant that everyone, in the ground and on their television screens – even though it was around 3 AM in India – were on the edge of their seats.
Rahul Dravid also showed worry as the match turned into a thriller
Tasked to defend 15 runs in the last over, Mohammed Siraj helped India prevail, though not without plenty of drama as first on the third ball Shepherd got a boundary via an inside edge before Siraj bowled a wide. The equation came down to 5 runs required off 1 ball and Siraj kept his calm to nail a yorker as Shepherd could only manage a single.
The BCCI then uploaded a video of the players and staff members of both the teams watching the game together in the stands in the final over. Both the groups showed a lot of emotion, even Dravid who was captured having an animated chat with batting coach Vikram Rathour.
“No shortage of action & emotions! Scenes as #TeamIndia seal a thrilling win in the first #WIvIND ODI in Trinidad,” the BCCI wrote on Twitter.
You can watch the video here:
No shortage of action & emotions!
— BCCI (@BCCI) July 23, 2022
Scenes as 
Skipper Shikhar Dhawan bagged the Player of the Match award for his 97 runs in 99 balls which set up India’s eventual total of 308. He said that though he was “disappointed” to fall 3 runs short of what would have been his first ODI ton since the 2019 World Cup, he was happy to see the effort put in by his players to clinch a close encounter.
“Disappointed not to get the 100, but it was a good effort by the team. We good a good score in the end. There were nerves in the end and didn’t expect it to turn that way. We kept our cool and one small change in the end where we pushed the fine leg back and that really helped us. The discussion was to use the bigger side as much as we can and we want to keep on learning and make ourselves better for the rest of the competition,” Dhawan said in the post-match press conference.
The second ODI between the two teams will be played on Sunday at the same ground.
