West Indies v India 2nd T20I Review: Rain interruption after a technical snub ends the game with no result

The second and the last T20I of the series bore no result as the game was first delayed by a technical issue for the broadcasters which pushed the start of the match back by 40 minutes and when Team India had just walked out to chase down the modest total set ahead rain poured down for some 20 odd minutes but in absence of the super sopper the ground staff wasn’t equipped well to get the outfield in a state to allow resumption until the allowed time limit. MS Dhoni and Carlos Brathwaite had no option but to shake hands and settle without a result.

Out of the two, the Men in Blue were desperate for the match to have continued since they were down in the series and up in the game. Brathwaite once again called the wrong side and Dhoni had the luxury of deciding for the second time in the series. He did what was expected; elected to bowl first. There was also a change in the XI one could foresee. Leg-spinner Amit Mishra who last appeared for India in a T20I back in the World T20 2014 was brought in to replace Stuart Binny.

Johnson Charles and Evin Lewis weren’t off to a flying start this time. Mohammad Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar were bowling to a plan and not giving much away. Though the batsmen took the occasional risk to ensure they got the boundaries both the opening bowlers pulled things back in the over if they were hit for a big shot. Shami struck first with a sharp bouncer as he had centurion from the last game Lewis caught at short fine leg by Mishra.

Charles wasn’t really affected by the fall of his partner and was playing easy looking big shots that would have worried the Indian bowlers but before he could do a lot of damage Mishra had him walking back.

Also read – The way the bowlers bowled was brilliant: MS Dhoni

Dhoni got in Mishy to bowl the 6^th over of the game and he immediately brought his T20 experience in to play. Charles tried to make room and moved wider on his leg-stump. The bowler followed him and though he went for the shot didn’t have enough scope to free his arms. That resulted in the ball landing in Ajinkya Rahane’s palms rather than among the crowd. The leggie had an impact straight forward in the match and proved the decision of his inclusion right.

Once his spinners get wickets MS Dhoni loves to run away with the game. He had Ravindra Jadeja on at the other end and both the spinners bowled some quick overs. That gave Dhoni time to hold back his wicket-takers Ravichandran Ashwin and Jasprit Bumrah. They were eventually introduced in the 10th and 11th over and picked a wicket each in their first over that of Lindl Simmons and Marlon Samuels respectively. By this time four West Indies batsmen were back in the changing room and they just had 76 runs on the board.

The men following them, Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo and Andre Russell couldn’t do much as the Indian spinners had complete control over the proceedings. While Shami, Bumrah and Ashwin picked a couple each Mishra had three. Bhuvneshwar got the important man Andre Russell while Jadeja only bowled two overs without any success.

Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane walked out to chase a modest total and started off positively scoring 7 runs each in the first two overs. But thereafter it rained and the patch around the bowler’s run-up area was too wet for umpires to allow play by the cut-off time and the second T20I was soon called off. With that West Indies won the series 1-0 and Team India didn’t have much in their control. While we still wonder if the technical delay at a time when the sun was shining bright could’ve been avoided just to have allowed the crowd present at the Lauderhill a game, and something for the Indian supporters to cheer about.

Also read – West Indies v India 2nd T20I – West Indies Player ratings

Brief Scores:

West Indies – 143/10 in 19.4 overs (J Charles 43; A Mishra 3/24, Ashwin 2/11)

India 15/0 in 2 overs (RG Sharma 10*, A Rahane 4)

No result due to rain and wet outfield.