Mandhana, Renuka blow away West Indies in first ODI

PTI Vadodara: Stylish opener Smriti Mandhana extended her purple patch with a classy knock before pacer Renuka Thakur excelled with the new ball as India outplayed a self-destructing West Indies by a record 211 runs in the first Women's ODI here Sunday. India posted 314 for nine after Mandhana made a fine 91 off 102 balls. The launch pad was provided by the opener for the middle-order to go big and that is what the likes of Harmanpreet Kaur (34 off 23), Harleen Deol (44 off 50), Richa Ghosh (26 off 12) and Jemimah Rodrigues (31 off 19) did to take India past 300. The West Indies were ordinary to say the least in their response as some of their batters gifted wickets to the dominating hosts.

They were eventually all out for 103 in 26.2 overs with Renuka picking her maiden five-wicket haul in ODIs. It was India's biggest win over the West Indies in runs. The second ODI of the three-match series will be played here on Tuesday. "Our plan was to target the stumps. There were a lot of patches in the wickets and that helped us a lot. Secondly, the weather got cold in the evening. There was also dew, so that helped me a lot," said Renuka in the post match media interaction.

"It is my first 5 international wickets, so definitely I am very happy. Especially in ODIs, it is very hard to get wickets. I have worked a lot on my inswings since childhood and I back my in-swingers a lot so that I get as much success as possible in this," she added. Qiana Joseph was run out on the first ball of the run chase as she inexplicably struggled to complete a regulation single from the non-striker's end, leaving skipper Hayley Mathews in disbelief.