In the West Indies tour of India, the hosts beat the visitors by eight runs in the second T20I of the three-match series. Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant and Bhuvneshwar Kumar played a crucial role in clinching the second game and also the series.
After losing the toss, India were asked to bat. The Indian opening pair of Rohit Sharma (19) and Ishan Kishan commenced the first innings. The openers looked a bit scratchy against the swing and that led to the home team’s first wicket in the name of Kishan. Virat Kohli (52) was the number three batsman and hit a boundary on the first ball itself. Rohit and Kohli had an entertaining partnership of 49 runs, the latter was the anchor while the former played the supporting role. The threatening partnership was broken by Roston Chase when Rohit was caught after edging the ball in the eighth over. Suryakumar Yadav was been promoted up the order, while on the other end, Kohli continued to play his shots and kept the scoreboard moving. The in-form Yadav was sent back in the 10th over by Chase. Rishabh Pant (52*) walked in to bat at number five and hit a boundary straightaway. After registering his 30th T20I half-century, Kohli became a victim of Chase in the 14th over. Venkatesh Iyer (33) was the next man at the crease and became the third man of the Indian batting unit to hit a boundary on the first ball. Without taking much time to settle in, Pant started attacking the Windies bowler and Iyer also joined him. The two lefthanders smashed 76 runs within six overs and guided India to set a competitive total of 186.Â
In the second innings, India faced some issues while dealing with the power-hitting of Rovman Powell (68*) and Nicholas Pooran (62). The game went till the last over and provided a thrilling finish. Bhuvneshwar Kumar just conceded four runs in the penultimate over in a high run chase and kept the home team in the game. With 25 needed off the last six, Powell slammed two sixes and almost changed the course of the game. The Windies needed 11 off 2, Powell couldn’t manage to put Harshal Patel’s well-disguised slower ball into the stands and that ended the tourists’ hopes of ending up on the winning side.
Pooran, Powell and Chase were the top performers for the Windies team.
Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravi Bishnoi had one scalp each. On the other hand, Chase pocketed three wickets while Sheldon Cottrell and Romario Shepherd gathered one wicket each for the Windies.
Pant was adjudged Man of the Match for his scintillating 52 off 28 deliveries with seven fours and one six.
Scorecard:
India: 186/5, Overs: 20, Rishabh Pant (52*), Roston Chase 3/25
West Indies: 178/3, Overs: 20, Rovman Powell (68*), Bhuvneshwar Kumar 1/29