Nicholas Pooran urges his teammates to take positives from the loss against India

West Indies captain Nicholas Pooran has urged his teammates to take the positives from the first ODI after losing a last-ball thriller despite a stunning effort with the bat against Team India in Trinidad on Friday. India captain Shikhar Dhawan scored a well-made 97 while Shubman Gill made a classy 64 in his ODI comeback before the visitors held their nerves to pull off a nail-biting three-run win over the West Indies in the series opener.

However, openers Dhawan (97 off 99 balls) and Shubman Gill (64 off 53) shared a 119-run stand before the West Indies bounced back to restrict India to 308 for seven as well. The hosts needed 15 runs off the final over for a record chase at Queen's Park Oval but Mohammed Siraj successfully restricted a rampaging Romario Shepherd (38 not out off 25). 

At the top of the order, Kyle Mayers (75 off 68) and Shamarh Brooks (46 off 61) as their contribution gave West Indies hopes with a 117-run stand for the second wicket before Brandon King (54 off 66) took the game to the wire. In the end, the West Indies fell short and managed 305 runs for six.

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"Feels like a win for us. Bittersweet, but yeah we keep talking about batting 50 overs and everyone saw what we are capable of and hopefully we can go strength to strength from here," Nicholas Pooran said in the post-match presentation ceremony.

Nicholas Pooran is hopeful of a turnaround

"Looking forward to the rest of the series. It was a good batting track and our bowlers did a commendable job to restrict them. It's difficult to lose but we will take this one. We need to believe in each other and I keep telling everyone that we will have our challenges, but important to focus on the positives," Pooran further added.

However, the result of the series opener was more or less expected as Team India came from a successful series win in England, while West Indies were swept aside by visiting team, Bangladesh. The second game will be played at Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain in Trinidad on Sunday, July 24. The final ODI will take place at the same venue on Wednesday, July 27.