India set a challenging target of 191 runs for the hosts. After all, India’s 190/6 is the highest T20I score at the Brian Lara Cricket Stadium which was hosting an international fixture for the first time.
In reply, West Indies got off to a good start. Openers Shamar Brooks and Kyle Meyers put on 22 runs off 8 balls before Arshdeep Singh reined in the pair with a wicket. Once India got the breakthrough, the hosts’ batting line-up began to disintegrate and were eventually all out for 122/8.
Rohit Sharma’s fresh comeback: A break from ODIs was much needed as the hitman made a comeback on Friday. Rohit returned to lead the team and started the five-match series with a scintillating half-century. Surprisingly, it was his first fifty this year. Wickets kept falling at the other end, but Rohit was determined and played the captain’s innings. The Indian captain scored 64 runs in 44 balls with the help of 7 fours and 2 sixes before losing his wicket to Jason Holder in the 15th over.
Dinesh Karthik once again justified his place in the team with a brilliant unbeaten knock of 41 runs. At one point it seemed that India would be able to reach only 145-150. But Dinesh Karthik had a different plan. As usual, he continued his attack in the death overs. He hit two fours and a six in the last over of the Indian innings, scoring 14 runs in just 4 balls. Karthik scored 41 runs in just 19 balls with the help of four fours and two sixes.
India played three quality spinners in the form of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravi Bishnoi and in turn, all three shared 5 wickets between each other. After a decent start, the Windies batting collapsed like a pack of cards and these three bowlers did the most damage. Ashwin posted figures of 2/22, dismissing skipper Nicholas Pooran (18) and Shimron Hetmyer (14). Bishnoi (2/13) dismissed Rovman Powell (14) and Odion Smith (0), while Jadeja (1/24) dismissed Jason Holder for a duck.
Arshdeep makes his appearance: Social media was buzzing with reactions when netizens learned that Arshdeep was in the playing XI. He may have missed out on the ODI debut cap, but he made a promising comeback in the first T20I. Kyle Meyers received him a bit harsh, hitting a six off the first ball and then a four. But he was quick enough to give it back by dismissing the Windies opener. In his second spell, he overtook Aqeel Hossain with an amazing yorker and stunned the visitors. Arshdeep returned 2 wickets for 24 runs in 4 overs. Till now, he has taken 4 wickets in 2 matches.
Iyer had a stellar start in the T20I series as he bagged a 4-ball duck on Friday at the Brian Lara Stadium. The right-handed batsman has not been in his best form for a long time. It has been more than 5 months since he scored a half-century. He played an unbeaten 73 against Sri Lanka in Dharamsala. He has scored double digits only once in the last four innings. The Mumbai batsman will have to come back between runs before he misses a flight to Australia for the much-awaited T20 World Cup.