At one stage in the game, India were staring at a possible defeat chasing 158 against the West Indies in the first T20I, late on Wednesday night at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata. But the pair of Suryakumar Yadav and Venkatesh Iyer rose to the occasion once again — like they did in the first ODI against the Caribbean side — this time adding 48 runs unbeaten for the fifth wicket to power India to a comprehensive victory by 6 wickets at the end.
India were almost brilliant in all departments once again as they recorded their fourth victory on the trot against the West Indies across formats in this bilateral affair, while also recording their fourth consecutive victory in the shortest format — three of these coming against New Zealand late last year.
India finished at a strong total of 162/4 from 18.5 overs chasing 158 to win against the Caribbean side, for whom their vice-captain Nicolas Pooran played a brilliant knock of 61 from 43 balls, hammering 5 sixes and 4 boundaries in the process.
While Pooran was able to put behind a disappointing run in the ODI series which concluded a few days ago between India and West Indies, the other batsmen from the Caribbean side were not able to find a way around India's spin bowlers, with debutant Ravi Bishnoi being the wrecker-in-chief in the first T20I.
Bishnoi returned with impressive figures of 4-0-17-2 in his first-ever spell for India at the biggest stage, accounting for Roston Chase and Rovman Powell in a spell that had West Indies cutting a sorry figure as far as batting against quality spin bowling was concerned.
Bishnoi was well supported by senior Indian bowler Yuzvendra Chahal, who too bowled impressively but could not get more than 1 wicket for which he gave away 34 runs. The short format specialist Harshal Patel also made his presence felt, taking 2/37 from his 4 overs while accounting for Pooran and Odean Smith late in the innings.
The proceedings in the first T20I on Wednesday began with India captain Rohit Sharma winning the toss and inviting his counterpart Kieron Pollard and Co to bat first, with the West Indies captain making a comeback to the playing XI, having missed the last two matches of the ODI series.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar provided India with the first breakthrough when he surprised Brandon King on a delivery that rose sharply on the batsman, with the right-hander appearing to be coming down the track to take the challenge head-on. However, King failed to keep his shot in check, playing in the air straight to backward point.
Following the loss of the opening wicket, the West Indies were revived by a 47-run second wicket stand between Kyle Mayers and Pooran. Both the West Indies batsmen displayed their array of strokes against the Indian bowlers, but just when the partnership was starting to look dangerous against India, Chahal broke through to trap Mayers in front of the wickets for 31 — a promising innings for which he consumed 24 balls and struck 7 boundaries.
After the first strike, Indian spinners rose to the occasion to dismantle the confidence for the West Indies batsmen. Bishnoi accounted for the likes of Chase (4) and Powell (2) inside one over to reduce the Caribbean side to 74/4 at one stage. It was Pooran's knock that was largely responsible for keeping the West Indies afloat, with their captain Pollard scoring of 19 ball 24 not out a couple of boundaries and a six to take their total to 157/7.
India were off to a flying start with Rohit taking the attack to the opposition, smacking 40 off just 19 balls with the help of 4 boundaries and 3 sixes. India were able to cross the 50-run mark inside the first 5 overs as their opening partnership was broken only in the 8th over, when Chase had Rohit caught in the deep.
Ishan Kishan continued to garner runs on all parts of the ground as he got 35 from 42 balls with the help of four boundaries before he was dismissed by Chase, who bowled a superb spell of spin bowling on Wednesday night.
The former India captain Virat Kohli was also off to a confident start but a flurry of wickets in the middle overs hampered India's position in the chase. Kohli was caught at long on for 17th off Fabian Allen while trying to clear the ropes, and Sheldon Cottrell had Rishabh Pant caught at fine leg for 8, cramping the batsman to play his favourite shot on the leg side.
India were struggling at 114/3 in 14.3 overs with a significant part of the job yet to be done. It was a perfect make-or-break situation and credit must be given to the pair of Suryakumar and Iyer, who added 48 runs unbeaten for the fifth wicket to take their side to a comprehensive win, which was achieved with 6 wickets and 7 balls to spare at the end.
Suryakumar cracked 5 fours and 1 six to reach 34 not out from 18 balls, whereas Iyer, who finished the game with a superb six over midwicket, reached 24 not out from 13 balls and 2 fours as well.
Devarchit Varma is a cricket writer and journalist with an experience of more than a decade, having worked at Hindustan Times (newspaper) and CricketCountry (website). Along with covering international and domestic cricket, he has also interviewed several current and former top players such as Rohit Sharma, Steve Smith, Dale Steyn, Michael Hussey, Jacques Kallis, Brendon McCullum, Shane Watson, Lasith Malinga and many more. He has also worked in other beats as a journalist in Bollywood (Reliance BigOye) and IT (SiliconIndia) industries.
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