West Indies vs India. (Photo Source: RANDY BROOKS/AFP via Getty Images)
Courtesy of a stellar bowling display from bowlers, West Indies edged past India in a last-ball thriller by four runs at the Brian Lara Stadium in Trinidad to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match T20I series.
The host won the toss and opted to bat as Brandon King gave them a good start. However, Yuzvendra Chahal struck twice in two overs to remove both the openers, while Kuldeep Yadav partnered with him to send back Johnson Charles, leaving the hosts 58/3 in 8th over. Nicholas Pooran and Rovman Powell led the recovery as the duo added 38 runs for fourth wicket before Hardik Pandya dismissed Pooran for 41.
India chipped in with wickets at regular interval from there, however, Powell kept the scoreboard ticking as he smashed a 32-ball 48 to help West Indies host post a decent 149/6 on a slow track. For India, Arshdeep Singh and Yuzvendra Chahal picked two wickets each while Kuldeep Yadav bowled a brilliant spell of 1/20 in 4 overs.
Chasing 150, India lost Shubman Gill for just three runs runs as Akeal Hossain drew the first blood for the hosts. Ishan Kishan, too, was unable to keep going as he departed for six. Suryakumar Yadav and debutant Tilak Verma added 39 for third wicket before Holder dismissed Yadav for 21. In the next over, Romario Sheperd dismissed Verma for 39 to change the momentum in their favour.
Sanju Samson and Pandya then added 36 runs for fifth wicket, but it was Holder yet again who broke the stand by cleaning up Pandya. Couple of balls later a terrible mix-up costed the wicket of Samson and India were left reeling at 113/6. Two boundaries in the penultimate over from Arshdeep Singh saw India come close to the target, however, Shepherd held his nerves and defended the runs to help West Indies beat India.
Meanwhile let us look at the stats and number from 1st T20I between West Indies and India:
200 – India appeared in their 200th T20I game, becoming the second team after Pakistan (223) to play 200 T20Is.
8 – This was the eighth time West Indies have defeated India in T20Is.
177.27 – Tilak Verma struck at 177.27, the highest strike rate by Indian batter on T20I debut (minimum 30 runs scored).
3 – Tilak smacked three sixes in his innings, joint-most along with Rahul Dravid and Murali Vijay on T20I debut for India away from home.
45 – Hardik Pandya has 45 wickets away from home in T20Is. He surpassed Yuzvendra Chahal’s tally of 44 wickets. Only Bhuvneshwar Kumar (56) and Ravichandran Ashwin (50) are ahead of him.
149/6 – West Indies defended 149, which is the fourth-lowest score defended against India in T20Is. New Zealand tops the list with 126 in Nagpur in 2016 followed by South Africa (130 in Nottingham in 2009) and Zimbabwe (145 in Harare in 2015).
55 – Jason Holder surpassed Samuel Badree’s tally of 54 wickets and is now the second-leading wicket-taker for West Indies in T20Is, behind Dwayne Bravo (78).