Speaking of his partnership with captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (43) and the duo’s failure to take India home despite the team needing a mere eight off the last over, Rahul said it was disappointing. West Indies won the first game of the tournament by one run.
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But India came close to pulling off a dramatic win when Dhoni was out last ball with just two needed for victory at the Central Broward Regional Park.
In all 32 sixes were hit on the day while the 489 total runs was the highest ever for a T20I match, beating the 469 in an IPL game in 2010.
In the bowlers’ ranking, Ashwin moved northwards rising three spots to be placed at the fourth position while pacer Jasprit Bumrah dropped a place to third in the table led by West Indian leg-spinner Samuel Badree.
Indian bowlers put up a collective effort in restricting the West Indies to a manageable total on a slow wicket that had nothing for the pacers.
It was the ideal and fruitful run-chase which team Indian ever did in 20-20s, however, they fell short of 1 run and eventually lost the match to WI.
The match, the first worldwide outing for India in United States, was in fact a competition of show of batting prowess between the two teams on a featherbed of a pitch on a small ground at Lauderhill and Dhoni’s men came second at the end.
Rain hit the match during the second innings of the game when India was batting at 15 runs for the loss of no wickets at the end of two overs.
Still, even India’s captain was largely positive after a match that was an ideal advertisement for cricket in the U.S. It was the first time since 2012 that the country has hosted an global and the first time India had ever played an worldwide in the U.S.
Saturday’s game in Lauderhill had been a spectacular affair, West Indies winning by one run after the highest-scoring Twenty20 global in history.
US witnessed West Indies batting charisma as openers Johnson Charles (79) and Evin Lewis (100) hammered Indian bowlers all-round the park to post massive 245 runs for the loss of six wickets.
The No. 2 ranked India, tasted the defeat in the very first t20 match against West Indies.
Lewis, standing in for the injured Chris Gayle, reached exactly 100 off 48 balls with five fours and nine sixes and when he was out off the fifth ball of the 16th over, world champions West Indies were 205-3.
India are likely to have Lokesh Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan open the innings with Rohit Sharma demoted to the middle-order.
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Despite the loss in India’s first worldwide match in the USA, Dhoni said his side can take a lot of positives. I always want to get that first win as captain, I know it was fantastic and I think that was one of the better T20 games I have ever been a part of, and it was a fantastic spectacle.
