He needed to score two runs to clinch victory but was caught by Marlon Samuels at third man. With spinners looking like making an impact, India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni introduced left-armer Ravindra Jadeja, who bowled five dots and conceded only one run in the next over. In the World T20 semi-final at Mumbai this year, when Simmons scored the match-winning 82 from 80 deliveries, including seven fours and five sixes, Ashwin had twice almost nailed him but his appeals were turned down by the umpires, as they came from no-balls.
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West Indies had built their score on a rollicking opening stand between Johnson Charles and Evin Lewis – 126 in 9.3 overs.
His unbeaten hundred could not help India get over the line but centurion Rahul said his side’s fighting spirit till the last ball of what could have been a world record chase, was a huge positive to draw from the one-run loss.
However, Dhoni disagreed with Brathwaite’s assessment and said that he had played under “worse conditions” during his career, providing the example of India’s ODI series against England in 2011, which was also affected by rain. As a batting unit, it was slightly different from the World T20 team, it was a chance for a few youngsters to come and grab the opportunities.
India are now second on the ICC’s T20I rankings, with West Indies third.
Rahul scored his maiden Twenty20 global century in 46 balls and stayed unbeaten on 110, striking 12 fours and five sixes in the process.
At one time, it looked like the West Indians would run away with the highest ever T20 worldwide score as they reached 199 for 1 at the end of 15 overs but India made fine a comeback in the final five overs, conceding just 46 runs and taking five wickets in the process.
Earlier in the day West Indies got off to a aggressive start after being put into bat by Indian skipper MS Dhoni on a flat track, as Charles hammered Sami for 17 runs in the first over including a six over long on, which set up the tone for the attack.
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.
India are likely to have Lokesh Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan open the innings with Rohit Sharma demoted to the middle-order. Everyone thought that this wicket would put a brake to the Windies scoring.
Andre Russell (22) and Kieron Pollard (22) added late cameos in Carlos Brathwaite’s first game as skipper.
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Bowling: Shami 4-0-48-1, Kumar 4-0-43-0, Bumrah 4-0-47-2, Ashwin 4-0-36-0, Jadeja 3-0-39-2, Binny 1-0-32-0.
