Ravi Bishnoi’s two-wicket haul was backed up by quality knocks by Rohit Sharma (40) and Suryakumar Yadav (34*) as India defeated West Indies by six wickets in the first T20I of the three-match series here at the Eden Gardens on Wednesday. With this win, India has gained a 1-0 lead in the three-match series and the second T20I will now be played on Friday at the same venue.
Chasing 158, India got off to a quickfire start as openers Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan put on 58 runs inside the first six overs. The 64-run opening stand finally came to an end in the eighth over as Roston Chase got the better of Rohit (40). Chase got his second wicket in the 12th over as he dismissed Kishan (35) and India was reduced to 93/2, still needing 65 runs for the win.
In the next over, India was given a body blow as Fabien Allen had Virat Kohli (17) caught at the hands of skipper Kieron Pollard at long-off and this meant there were two new batters at the crease — Rishabh Pant and Suryakumar Yadav. Pant (8) failed with the bat as he was dismissed by Sheldon Cottrell and India was reduced to 114/4 in the 15th over.
In the end, Suryakumar (34*) and Venkatesh Iyer (24*) ensured that India register a six-wicket win with seven balls to spare.
Earlier, Nicholas Pooran starred with the bat as he played a knock of 61 runs to help West Indies post 157/7. Sent into bat, West Indies got off to a bad start as the visitors lost Brandon King (4) on the fifth ball of the innings.
Kyle Mayers and Nicholas Pooran then scored briskly and after the end of powerplay overs, West Indies’ score read 44/1. The 47-run stand for the second wicket was cut short by Yuzvendra Chahal as he had Mayers (31) adjudged leg-before wicket in the seventh over.
Ravi Bishnoi got his maiden T20I wicket in the 11th over of the innings as he had Roston Chase (4) adjudged leg-before wicket. In the very same over, Bishnoi dismissed Rovman Powell (2) and the visitors were reduced to 74/4. Nicholas Pooran kept on holding one end up and the visitors were looking for a big finish in the final overs.
In the final four overs, West Indies managed to add 49 more runs to the total, and in the end, the team from the Caribbean posted a score of more than the 150-run mark. Pooran was dismissed by Harshal Patel but it was not before the left-hander played a knock of 61. Kieron Pollard (24*) remained unbeaten for the visitors.
Brief Scores: West Indies 157/7 (Nicholas Pooran 61, Kyle Mayers 31; Ravi Bishnoi 2-17) vs India 162/4 (Rohit Sharma 40, Ishan Kishan 35; Roston Chase 2-14).
