India Beat West Indies by 5 Wickets in First T20

The reigning T20 champions, the West Indies, only managed 109 runs for the loss of 8 wickets in their 20 overs, at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata this evening, a score that India chased down without too much difficulty in 17.5 overs, losing 5 wickets while doing so.

 

The West Indies were put in to bat first after India won the toss, and it appeared that the visiting side was experiencing a case of carry over from the last couple of one-day international matches, not managing a score of more than six runs per over in their allotted 20 overs. The top half of the batting order did not even manage to put up fifty runs between them, even with someone as experienced as Kieron Pollard returning to the side, scoring only 14 runs in 26 deliveries faced before getting out to Krunal Pandya. Fabian Allen managed to provide a little more momentum to the West Indies scoring during the late stages of their innings, scoring 27 runs off of 20 deliveries, and helping the team register a three-figure score that it did not seem that it would at a certain point in the match.

 

India came out to bat with much confidence, but soon found themselves in a very similar position to what the West Indies early on. They lost captain Rohit Sharma and fellow opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan for scores of 6 and 3, respectively, and even young Rishabh Pant didn’t bother the scorers with his contribution of a single run. It wasn’t until Dinesh Karthik joined K.L. Rahul in the middle and scored a big six after not scoring for almost an entire over, followed by three 4s off of a Kieron Pollard over, that India looked like it was well on its way to victory. At the end of 17.5 overs, Karthik had scored 31 runs off of 34 deliveries, while debutant Krunal Pandya had chipped in with 21 runs off of 9 deliveries.

 

Krunal Pandya contributed with the bat and the ball, taking a wicket in his four overs. The star of the Indian bowling attack was Kuldeep Yadav who took 3 wickets and gave only 13 runs in his four overs.

 

The 2nd T20 between India and the West Indies will be played on November 6, 2018, at 1900 IST (1330 GMT) at Ekana International Cricket Stadium in Lucknow.

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