Batter Tilak Varma and pacer Mukesh Kumar made their debuts and leggie Yuzvendra Chahal made an impact as India restricted the West Indies to 149/ 6 in the first T20 International in Tarouba on Thursday.
In response, India were 70 for three after 10 overs at the time of writing. Shubman Gill (3) and Suryakumar Yadav (21) didn’t do much, but Mumbai Indians star Varma was shaping up well (32 not out).
A captain’s innings of 48 from 32 balls by Rovman Powell, along with Nicholas Pooran’s 34-ball 41, were the highlights of the West Indies scorecard.
The new ball wasn’t doing much for the pacers in the powerplay. As such, Mukesh and Arshdeep Singh were not able to do much to rattle the West Indies top-order. Arshdeep, however, did scalp two wickets eventually.
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In the fourth over, Hardik Pandya turned to spin and brought in Axar Patel. But Brandon King (28 off 19) tore into him with an inside out six over cover.
Chahal (2/24), playing his first game of the tour, bowled the next over. His googly had Kyle Myers (1) going for a slog sweep and missing. He was given leg before even though the ball was missing the stumps, but then Myers did not review.
And then just two deliveries later, King missed a straight ball by Chahal for another leg before verdict.
Pooran started from where he finished in Sunday’s Major League Cricket final, when he blasted a 55-ball 137 for Mumbai Indians New York against Seattle Orcas in Dallas. He slammed Axar for a six and four, and the West Indies were going reasonably well at 54 for two in six overs.
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Powell added his own mayhem, hitting three sixes and three fours. But the West Indies could not sustain the momentum. They scored 42 in the last five overs and lost two wickets.
