Tarouba: India thrashed West Indies by 68 runs in the opening T20 International of the five-match series on Friday on the back of a scintillating performance by the bowlers after captain Rohit Sharma and Dinesh Karthik batted. -0 lead. This is the second biggest win for the Indian team over the West Indies in terms of runs.
The team had earlier defeated West Indies by 71 runs in Lucknow on 6 November 2018. Rohit scored 64 runs in 44 balls with seven fours and two sixes, while Man of the Match Karthik scored 41 runs in his unbeaten innings of 19 balls with the help of four fours and two sixes. He shared an unbroken 52-run partnership for the seventh wicket with Ravichandran Ashwin (13 not out) in the last over. After India posted 190 for six, West Indies were restricted to 122 for eight.
Indian bowlers continued to take wickets at regular intervals and none of the bowlers conceded more than an average of 6.50. Arshdeep Singh, Ravi Bishnoi, and Ashwin took two wickets each. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ravindra Jadeja got one success each. During this, Rohit once again became the highest run-scorer in T20 Internationals. New Zealand opener Martin Guptill became the highest run-scorer in this format two days ago, replacing Rohit. Before the match, there was a gap of 21 runs between the two, but the Indian captain played a big inning and made this record in his name.
In T20 Internationals, Guptill has 3399 runs to his name while Rohit’s name is now 3443 runs. Chasing the target, Kyle Myers got off to a quick start with fours and sixes against Bhuvneshwar and Arshdeep. Arshdeep, however, was caught by Bhuvneshwar in the second over itself, ending Myers’s innings of 15 runs in six balls. In the next over, Ravindra Jadeja bowled Jason Holder without opening the account, then he showed the way to the pavilion to Shamra Brooks while putting the sixth over maiden in Bhuvneshwar. West Indies were under pressure after losing three wickets for 42 runs in the powerplay.
Captain Nicholas Pooran (18) took the pressure off Hardik Pandya and Rovman Powell (14) hit a six against Jadeja. Ashwin got Pooran caught by Pant in the eighth over, while Ravi Bishnoi bowled Powell and sent half the West Indies team to the pavilion in the 12th over. Ashwin dented West Indies’ chances of a win by dismissing returning Shimron Hetmyer (14) while Bishnoi almost assured India’s victory by stumping Odin Smith without opening the account. After this, the West Indies batsmen completed the formality of playing the entire over. This is the first T20 International at this ground in which the Indian team once again took to the field with a new opening pair.
Rohit surprised everyone by opening the innings with Suryakumar Yadav (24). Both gave the team a good start by adding 44 runs in the first 4.4 overs. Suryakumar Yadav opened the account by hitting a four against Obed McCoy in the opening over, while Rohit welcomed Holder for a six in the second over. In the third over, on the very first ball of spinner Akil Hossain, Myers dropped Suryakumar’s catch.
Suryakumar then hit a six and a four in debutant Alzarri Joseph’s over but was caught by Hossain to Holder. He hit three fours and a six in his 16-ball innings. In the next over, Shreyas Iyer returned to the pavilion by giving a catch to Hussain off McCoy’s delivery without opening the account. Rohit stood at one end but Rishabh Pant (14 runs) and Hardik Pandya (one run), who was running in great rhythm from the other end, returned to the pavilion early.
Rohit completed the 27th half-century of his T20 International career and the team’s hundred against Joseph in the 12th over by hitting consecutive fours in the second and third balls. He hit two fours against Odin Smith in the 14th over but was caught by Holder in the 15th over to Shimron Hetmyer. Ravindra Jadeja (16 runs) was also dismissed in the next over. He became Joseph’s second victim.
Karthik and Ashwin scored 21 runs in the 19th over with a six each. Karthik then scored 15 runs against McCoy in the last over by hitting six and two fours and took the team’s score to 190. For West Indies, Joseph took two wickets while McCoy, Holder, Hossain, and Keemo Paul took one wicket each.
