In a game that we a little too close for comfort, India managed to get the better of the West Indies in a tightly-contested encounter at the Eden Gardens, taking a 1-0 lead in the 3-match T20 series. After Rohit Sharma won another toss, he put the Windies in to bat. India started well by reducing the visitors to 74-4, but Nicholas Pooran ensured that there were no more hiccups, his 43-ball 61 ensuring that they reached a competitive total of 157-7, with some good support from Kyle Mayers and captain Keiron Pollard.
In response, India started on an absolute canter, with Rohit Sharma taking apart the bowlers. The Windies did manage to pull things back and send some bolts of uncertainty in the minds of the Indians, but SKY and Venkatesh Iyer ensured there were no more slip-ups and took the chase home with an over to spare.
Here are the talking points from the first T20I between India and West Indies and Rohit Sharma aced it once again-
1. A debut to remember for Ravi Bishnoi
Ravi Bishnoi had a debut to remember last night. After starting off his international T20 career with a dropped catch that led to a six (he actually caught it well, but misjudged the distance and stepped on the boundary rope), he did not let the nerves of that mishap get to him and bowled with verve and maturity that belies his tender years. With his bag of tricks, he went about bamboozling the batsmen with his variations, fizzing the ball and making good use of the conditions.
He had a measure of control over the batsmen, which was very good to see. He finished his maiden game with 2-17 of his 4 overs, while also bowling 17 dot balls, and walking away with the Player of the Match award as well. With this performance, it is pretty certain that he belongs to the international stage and is here for the long haul.
2. Pollard’s plan backfires against the tactics of Rohit Sharma
West Indies had a pretty decent start in the power play. Despite losing opener Brandon King in the very first over, they managed to get 44 in the power play, with Kyle Mayers cutting loose and playing some really good cricket. But what followed after from the West Indies think-tank was baffling, to say the least. After Mayers departed, eyebrows were raised when Roston Chase and Akeal Hossein were sent up the order before Pollard.
With all respect to both, who are very good cricketers in their own right, they aren’t Keiron Pollard. The ploy naturally backfired and both departed without troubling the scorers a whole lot. The West Indies need to be a little bit more careful while tampering with their batting combination because this could be the difference between getting 140 and getting 160 in close matches.
3. India’s struggle against spin
While it was a very convincing victory overall, India was made to sweat it out in the middle stages of their innings. After the first 5 overs, it was looking like this was going to be a cakewalk for the batsmen. But once Rohit Sharma departed, the spin duo of Akeal Hosein and Roston Chase put the brakes on the run chase.
Ishan Kishan, in particular, struggled with the turning ball, unable to connect properly, which ultimately resulted in throwing away his wicket. This resulted in added pressure on the rest, which resulted in not a single boundary being scored for almost 5 overs of the spinners. India will have to find a way to tackle the slower bowlers much better if they have to have an all-around batting unit to go to the next level.
4. Surya- the finisher for Rohit Sharma
Suryakumar Yadav is turning out to be quite an integral part of this Indian setup. The stylish batsman once again put his hand up in what was a potentially tricky situation for the hosts. with the Windies spinners putting the clamps on the run-chase, SKY, as he’s called, played coolly and with a lot of composure, and took over the mantle as the one to finish games for this Indian side.
He also was constantly seen giving advice to his partner on the other end, Venkatesh Iyer. In the end, the class of SKY was enough to take the hosts over the line. This augurs very well for India, with SKY able to play anywhere across the batting order, his emergence as the closer or the finisher could be just what this Indian team needs.
