Earlier, captain Rohit and Suryakumar Yadav gave a great start to the team with a partnership of 53 runs. After hitting four boundaries in the first two overs, Rohit hit two sixes against Obed McCoy (2 for 66 runs) in the third over. Suryakumar also hit a six and a four in this over. Indian team scored 25 runs from this over. Rohit hit another six in the fifth over against Aqeel Hossain (one wicket for 28 runs) to take the team’s score past 50 but the bowler ended his 16-ball innings by bowling him on the next ball. He hit two fours and three sixes.
Like Rohit, Suryakumar too fell leg before hitting a six off Alzarri Joseph (2 for 29) in the sixth over. He hit one four and two sixes in his 14-ball innings. Wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant hit a four as soon as he stepped on the crease, which took India’s score to 65 for two after the power play. Deepak Hooda (21 off 19 balls) and Pant then ran intelligently to steal the runs and continued to hit boundaries in the middle. The team completed a century of runs in the 11th over with Pant’s four off McCoy’s ball.
Joseph made Hooda his second victim in the 12th over and broke his 47-run partnership for the third wicket with Pant. Sanju Samson hit a four in the same over and then accelerated the run-rate by hitting a six against McCoy in the 15th over. Pant also hit a four in McCoy’s over but got out on the last ball. India completed 150 runs in the 16th over.
After Pant went to the pavilion, the run-rate was put on hold for some time. Samson and team’s ‘finisher’ Dinesh Karthik (6 runs in nine balls) failed to pick up the pace. McCoy bowled Karthik in the 19th over, while Axar Patel hit two sixes in the same over. He took the team’s score beyond 190 by hitting a four on the last ball of the innings. Samson remained unbeaten on 30 off 23 balls. Indian batsmen scored 66 runs from four overs of McCoy.
Avesh Khan gave the first blow to the host team chasing the target. He caught open Brendan King on his own ball on a personal score of 13 runs. After this, Avesh spoiled the start of the Windies by getting new batsman Devon Thomas caught by Deepak Hooda for just one run. After this, the wickets of the Windies kept falling at frequent intervals.
Although Nicholas Pooran 24, Rovman Powell 24, Shimron Hetmyer 19 and Jason Holder 13 struggled for some time, they had no answer to the balls wreaking havoc on the Indian young bowlers. However, veteran Bhuvneshwar Kumar conceded 21 runs in 3 overs and his bag remained empty. Avesh, Arshdeep, Axar Patel and Ravi Bishnoi took wickets.
Obed McCoy sick mother: Mother is sick at home, call for national duty, Obed McCoy has made weakness his strength