Buoyant India Annihilate West Indies

India convincingly defeated West Indies by 6 wickets in the 1st T20I. The match was played at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata. The era under the Coach Rahul Dravid & Captain Rohit Sharma is looking ominous. West Indies need a complete revamp in terms of facing spin as most of the times they were seen defending & were playing out the spinners.

India had won the toss & elected to bowl first. India restricted West Indies to a below par score of 157/7. In response to 158 target Rohit Sharma went bang-bang as he smashed 40 runs in 19 balls which included 4 fours & 3 sixes. India managed to score 58 runs in the power-play overs. Then came the lanky off spinner Roston Chase, he dented India’s run chase, He had taken 2 wickets for 14 runs in his 4 over spell. The likes of Suryakumar Yadav & Venkatesh Iyer wrapped up the game with an over left. Suryakumar scored a quick-fire cameo of 34 runs in 18 balls which included 5 fours & 1 six. Venkatesh Iyer managed to play a handy knock of 24 runs in 13 balls. Both batters made sure that they are not giving a chance to Caribbean bowlers. Apart from Roston Chase no other bowler had a good day out as all the bowlers were hammered.

West Indies were asked to bat first. West Indies had a decent power-play as they scored 44 runs for the loss of 1 wicket. Nicholas Pooran & the rest of the batting line up were foxed by India’s spinners. The debutant Ravi Bishnoi had a dream run as he took 2 wickets & gave away 17 runs in his 4 overs spell. Pooran scored a blistering knock of 61 runs in 43 balls. The rest of the batting line up failed to put up a show. India’s entire bowling unit was disciplined as they didn’t allow any batter to get a over in excess of 14-18 runs.
The next T20I match is scheduled on 18th February. West Indies need to pull their socks as one more bad day at the office would end the T20I Series. India on the other hand would hope to continue the good run as now India is on a winning streak of 7 matches. Rahul Dravid & Rohit Sharma would hope a better show from batters as at one stage it looked like India’s run chase would be hampered.