“Lots of sixes were scored, in fact there was more sixes than boundaries and so it was tough on the bowlers, but still the bowlers that got hit with lesser number of sixes ended up at the winning side”.
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India would surely have that loss in mind when they take on a new look West Indies side, led by recently appointed captain, Carlos Brathwaite. Mishra bowled exceedingly well, he was able to put pressure and he was well supported by Ashwin.
Mohammed Shami (2-31), R Ashwin (2-11) and Jasprit Bumrah ( 2-26) picked up two wickets each and deprived West Indies from building any significant partnerships. Shami was taken off and Bumrah was introduced in the third over. It is the most runs that each team has scored in the first ten overs, while the aggregate is the second best in any T20I, three runs short of the record of 251 in a South Africa-West Indies game in Johannesburg in 2015.
West Indies crawled past the 100-run mark in the 14th over; on Saturday, they were into three figures in the eighth.
Dhoni said there needed to be quicker recognition from the bowlers to adjust their game plans when it became clear that the pristine batting pitch was suiting the West Indies’ hyper-aggressive approach spearheaded by Charles, who struck 79 off 33 balls.
The way the West Indians were hammering the Indian bowlers, it seemed that Dhoni’s decision to insert the opposition in backfired but his boys were up to the task and they were on the verge of turning the match on its head with a vintage batting performance only to fall short by just one run. Considering that the target was not too big in the Duckworth/Lewis equation, India may have been right to think that they were the favourites in the rain affected match. West Indies crawled their way to 143 before being bundled out in 20th over with two balls to spare.
“It was on this (west) side where me and Bravo were standing but it was far away from all the run-ups of the bowlers”.
Two wickets in the 16th over off the bowling of Jadeja put the brakes on the West Indian innings and for the first time the Indians could pose some sort of trouble for their rampaging opponents.
Andre Russell (22) and Kieron Pollard (22) added late cameos in Carlos Brathwaite’s first game as skipper.
But they fell short as Dhoni was dismissed off the final ball, leaving the skipper to lament his failure to see his team to victory.
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Bowling: Russell 4-0-53-1, Badree 2-0-25-0, Bravo 4-0-37-2, Narine 3-0-50-0, Brathwaite 4-0-47-0 Pollard 3-0-30-1.
