TAROUBA (Trinidad and Tobago): Tight bowling by India, led by Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravi Bishnoi’s two-wicket haul, respectively helped the Men in Blue defeat West Indies by 68 runs in the first T20I of the five-match series against West Indies, at the Brian Lara Stadium here on Friday.
Chasing a target of 191, West Indies got off to a bad start as they lost their opening batter Kyle Mayers, with 22 runs on the scoreboard. Opener Shamarh Brooks played some brilliant shorts as he was joined by Jason Holder on the crease.
Holder fell prey to Ravindra Jadeja’s spin without even scoring a run. In the 5.2 over, Bhuvneshwar Kumar provided his team with a breakthrough as he dismissed Brooks on 20 runs in 15 balls.
West Indies captain Nicholas Pooran followed Brooks back to the pavilion after scoring 18 runs in 15 balls. Rovman Powell and Shimron Hetmyer shifted gear and smashed Indian bowlers all around the ground.
The partnership between the duo could not stand long as Ravi Bishnoi bowled out Rovman Powell on 14 runs. After 10 overs, West Indies’s score read 73/4.
Akeal Hosein then joined Hetmyer at the crease. Ravi Bishnoi gave the hosts another blow as he removed Odean Smith for duck.
Indian bowlers kept West Indies batters in check as they restricted them to play big shots after 10 overs. After 16 overs, the host’s score read 100/7.
Arshdeep Singh gave hosts a big blow as he bowled out Akeal Hosein on 11 runs. At that time, West Indies desperately needed a partnership, but the tight bowling by the Indian team did not give them any chance to open hands.
Blistering and tight bowling performance by the Indian bowling attack restricted the hosts to a score of 122/8 in the 20 over to claim a comprehensive 68-run win.
Earlier, a half-century by Rohit Sharma and a blistering cameo of 41 runs by Dinesh Karthik guided India to post 190/6 in the first innings of the first T20I.
Rohit smashed 64 runs off 44 balls while Dinesh Karthik scored 41* runs in 19 balls to provide India with a strong hand in the first innings. For West Indies, Alzarri Joseph scalped two wickets while Obed McCoy and Akeal Hosein took one wicket each.
Put to bat first, Team India had a great start with the opening batters captain Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav thrashing Caribbean bowlers at every corner of the ground. The duo’s trashing was stopped as Suryakumar was dismissed by Akeal Hosein after scoring 24 runs in 16 balls.
Rohit continued the carnage on West Indies bowlers. Shreyas Iyer came out to bat, but the latter was sent back to the pavilion by Obed McCoy on a duck ball.
Rishabh Pant then joined the captain on the crease to keep the momentum going in their team’s favour. But Pant’s stint on the crease was cut short by Keemo Paul.
Hardik Pandya later came to the crease but could only score one run. Star all-rounder of the team Ravindra Jadeja tried to anchor the innings with skipper Rohit Sharma.
Rohit brought up his fifty in 35 balls. Rohit built a much-needed partnership with Jadeja to take India’s score beyond the 100-run mark.
In the 15th over Rohit fell prey to Jason Holder after scoring 64 runs. After Indian skipper, Dinesh Karthik and Ravichandran Ashwin tried to anchor an inning to post a respectable total.
In the last over Karthik trashed McCoy for 15 runs to take India’s total to 190/6 in 20 overs.
Brief score: India 190/6 (Rohit Sharma 64, Dinesh Karthik 41*; Alzarri Joseph 2-46) vs West Indies (Shamarh Brooks 20, Keemo Paul 19*; Ravi Bishnoi 2-26). (ANI)