India registered a comprehensive five-wicket victory over West Indies in the first ODI.
Kuldeep Yadav (4/6) and Ravindra Jadeja (3/37) spun a web around the Caribbean batters to bundle out the hosts for a paltry 114 in just 23 overs.
In reply, the Men in Blue rode on wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan’s half-century to overhaul the target in 22.5 overs. Kishan was promoted to open the innings and the southpaw returned with 52 off 46 balls.
However, former India cricketer Aakash Chopra found the experiment baffling, saying that Ishan opening the batting and scoring a half-century had little meaning for him.
"There was a big question in batting that whether Sanju Samson or Ishan Kishan will play. Ishan Kishan opening and scoring a fifty has not told me anything. I already knew that Ishan Kishan is a good player," said Chopra in a video on his YouTube channel.
"Ishan Kishan was slotted to bat at No. 4, from which you could understand that this team is looking at him as the second wicketkeeper who will bat in the middle order - makes a lot of sense. However, you got him to open, and he scored a fifty. He is going to do that. He has scored a double hundred in ODIs," he added.
The visitors also promoted Suryakumar Yadav in the batting order by sending him at No. 3. However, the swashbuckling right-hander scored only 19 runs, much to the disappointment of the Indian team management.
"Then came Suryakumar Yadav - that's another question. This was an opportunity for him. I had kept Suryakumar Yadav in my World Cup team but for that, he will have to score runs.
"He was sent to bat at No. 3 so that he goes and collects runs, and his name continues to remain in the audition," Chopra stated.
Aakash Chopra also highlighted certain flaws in Surya's approach as the latter averages a below-par 23.79 after 24 ODIs.
"He was batting decently, but the way he got out - he first hit a sweep which went for a four, another sweep and got beaten, another sweep and a leg-before appeal, and then another sweep and got out leg-before. These were four consecutive balls and not four separate events," he remarked.
The second ODI between India and West Indies will be played in Barbados on Saturday (July 29).