India vs West Indies: Visitors bounce back to level the series in style

Adithya Sundar 22:04 08/12/2019
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  • The chasers win again. West Indies opted to bowl in the second T20I and were able to complete a comfortable win over India with seven wickets and 10 deliveries to spare.

    The visitors did well to restrict India to a total of 170 after the hosts failed to capitalize on the start provided by Shivam Dube’s belligerent knock.

    West Indies’ top-order came good in the chase as Lendl Simmons, Elvin Lewis, Shimron Hetmyer and Nicholas Pooran proved their T20 nous by orchestrating the chase to perfection.

    Shivam Dube slams maiden half-century

    Shivam Dube

    Shivam Dube

    Shivam Dube, the big-hitter from  Mumbai was promoted to No.3 and he walked in with 17 overs remaining in the innings after KL Rahul holed out to square leg.

    On a slow pitch, the southpaw struggled to find his timing initially but, once he got used to the pace of the pitch he was able to score rapidly.

    With a backlift similar to Lance Klusener, Dube cleared his front leg and did most of his scoring on the legside.

    The 26-year-old smashed three sixes off Kieron Pollard in a single over and raced to his first international half-century  off just 27 deliveries.

    However, he couldn’t carry on to make a big score as Hayden Walsh Jr. had him caught at cover shortly after he reached his fifty.

    Walsh and Williams star for the Windies

    Leg-spinner Hayden Walsh Jr. and medium pacer Kesrick Williams were excellent in the middle overs and picked up  four wickets between them.

    Williams, who was carted all over the park in the previous game, bowled cutters at just short of a good length against which the Indian batsmen struggled. Only one boundary was scored off the medium pacer.

    Williams got the important wicket of Virat Kohli with a short ball which the Indian captain could only guide to the fielder at short thirdman. The 29-year-old bowler wisely opted for a muted celebration this time around.

    Williams celebrates Kohli's wicket.

    Williams celebrates Kohli’s wicket.

    Walsh bowled intelligently, delivering leg-spinners  just wide off the batsman’s hitting arc. He accounted for the wickets of the Shreyas Iyer and the well-set Dube in his four over spell.

    The bowling at the death from the visitors  was on point as they conceded just 26 runs from the last four overs.

    Lendl Simmons stars in the chase

    Openers Lendl Simmons and Elvin Lewis provided a solid start to the chase, adding 73 runs off the first ten overs.

    India’s fielding woes followed them to Thiruvananthapuram too, as the duo were handed a reprieve each, in the space of three deliveries during the power play.

    Washington Sundar dropped a catch for Simmons at mid-off while Rishabh Pant couldn’t hold on to tough chance after Lewis nicked one behind. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar was the unlucky bowler on both occasions.

    Simmons motored along scoring boundaries at regular intervals to keep the required rate in check. After the dismissal of Lewis in the tenth over of the innings, the likes of Shimron Hetmyer and Nicholas Pooran provided able support to Simmons, who brought up his sixth T20I fifty and remained unbeaten to finish the game for the Windies.

    Nicholas Pooran who was making his return to international cricket following his three-match ban for ball-tampering, produced a sensational cameo, smashing  38 off just 18 deliveries.

    Washington Sundar was the only bowler to escape punishment from the Caribbean batsmen as he finished with figures of one for 26 from his four overs.

    The final game of the three-match series will be played at Mumbai on December 11.

    Brief Scores:

    India – 170/7  (Dube 54; Walsh 2-28)

    West Indies – 173/2 in 18.2 overs (Simmons 67, Lewis 40)

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