India vs Windies: 1st T20I, Review- Hosts stave off spirited Windies to clinch the ascendancy

The Caribbean bowlers came out firing on all cylinders.

Published - 04 Nov 2018, 22:27 IST | Updated - 04 Nov 2018, 22:27 IST

2 Min Read

The opening T20I between India and Windies at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata turned out to be a tad one-sided, albeit the Windies’ bowlers tried their hearts out while defending a modest target. Eventually, the Men in Blue won by five wickets and took a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. The next match in Lucknow now becomes a must-win for the Caribbean team.

Kuldeep rocks Windies

India won the toss and elected to field first. Denesh Ramdin and Shai Hope commenced proceedings for the visiting team and scored 16 runs from the first couple of overs. However, Umesh Yadav, who replaced Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the lineup, drew first blood with the wicket of Ramdin for two. Hope was the second wicket to fall courtesy of a shambolic run-out.

He along with Shimron Hetmyer got stranded at the bowler’s end and Hope had to make the long walk back. In the very next over, Jasprit Bumrah accounted for the wicket of Hetmyer with a short delivery that got big on the batsman. Pollard tried to put his head down, but he became Krunal Pandya’s maiden international wicket after scoring 14 runs from 26 deliveries.

In the next over, Kuldeep Yadav got rid of Darren Bravo. The chinaman bowler also accounted for the wickets of Rovman Powell and Carlos Brathwaite. Fabian Allen and Keemo Paul wielded their willows to add some valuable runs in the dying stages of the innings, which also took the Windies over the 100-run mark. The Caribbean team ended up with 109 runs in 20 overs.

India strain but prevail

The run chase wasn’t expected to be a hard grind for the home team, but the Windies bowlers came out firing on all cylinders. Fast bowler Oshane Thomas dismissed Rohit in the very first over. In his second over, the speedster castled Shikhar Dhawan and reduced India to 16/2 in the third over. Rishabh Pant, who played his first T20I after March, perished for a solitary run.

KL Rahul looked good while he was at the crease. Unfortunately, he fell prey Carlos Brathwaite. At that point in time, India still needed 65 runs. Thereafter, Dinesh Karthik and Manish Pandey cobbled together a partnership of 38 priceless runs from 45 balls to put the hosts on the driver’s seat. Both picked up the singles and churned out the odd boundary to chip away at the target.

The stand was broken by left-arm spinner Khary Pierre with the scalp of Pandey, who gave an easy caught and bowled to the bowler. The tweaker also picked up his first wicket. In the end, Karthik and debutant Pandya ensured that their team doesn’t suffer any hiccup. While Karthik remained not out on 31 from 34 balls, Pandya played a quick-fire hand of 21 runs from nine balls.