As rain and wet outfield denied India a chance to level the Twenty20 global series against West Indies, captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni hinted that he wanted to carry on with the game considering he had played under “worst” of the conditions and there was “no Shoaib Akhtar” in the opposition team.
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Marlon Samuels (1) and Dwayne Bravo (1) then survived the last ball with a single, but it was enough for the West Indies to get to the third highest T20I total and third highest overall score. This was the highest ever T20 global score against India by any team, surpassing the 219 for 4 by South Africa in Johannesburg in March 2012.
India limited-over captain MS Dhoni has been under unnecessary criticism since India’s defeat in the 1st T20 against the West Indies.
Rahul who came to bat at No. 4, completed his maiden T20 century in just 46 balls to claim the record.
The first match of the series will be remembered for a very long time.
However the captains were concerned about particular areas at the top of the bowler’s run-up that did not dry up and the game was soon called off.
With the outfield soaked, the match was abandoned 90 minutes later, and India had faced only two overs, three short of the point at which a result could have been decided via the Duckworth-Lewis method.
“Eight runs from six balls, you would always back the batting team to get that”.
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 was 205-3. West Indies batsmen, who had scouraged the Indian bowlers in the first match, today found the going tough and were bowled out in 19.4 overs.
India came within touching distance of winning the first T20I.
Dhoni’s men, however, had the consolation of knocking off the highest ever T20I second innings score which is also the same 236 for 6 which the West Indies made against South Africa.
Dhoni also gave a thumbs up to the venue at US which hosted the two twenty20 internationals.
West Indies were now struggling.
Andre Russell (22) and Kieron Pollard (22) added late cameos to give Carlos Brathwaite the opportunity to mark his first game in charge with a much-needed win.
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Up until now, these two sides have faced off five times in total. Everyone thought that this wicket would put a brake to the Windies scoring.
