Muristek
Rohit Sharma slams 19-ball 40 as India cruise to 6-wkt win over West Indies to go 1-0 up in T20 series
Kolkata, February 16
Suryakumar Yadav played the finisher's role to perfection after skipper Rohit Sharma blazed away at the top as India secured a six-wicket win over West Indies in the first T20 International here today.
Rohit smashed a 19-ball 40, with three sixes and four fours, to give India the perfect foundation after his bowlers restricted the visitors to 157/7.
In the company of Venkatesh Iyer (24 off 13), Yadav then hit a brisk 34 in just 18 deliveries to help India chase down the target with seven balls to spare and take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
Roston Chase (2/14) bowled brilliantly in the middle overs and dismissed the two Indian openers — Rohit and Ishan Kishan. The hosts also lost Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant to leave them at 114/4 inside 15 overs.
The most expensive IPL buy, Kishan, made 35 in 42 balls before becoming Chase's second victim.
Kishan, who was bought back by Mumbai Indians for Rs15.25 crore, struggled to get going even as Rohit looked in full flow.
Former India skipper Kohli also continued his lean patch and fell cheaply for a 13-ball 17, hitting straight to Kieron Pollard at the long-off boundary.
But Rohit's flying start meant that India remained on course before Yadav and Iyer produced the finishing act with an unbroken 48-run partnership from 26 balls.
Yadav was brilliant all around the wicket and smashed one six and five fours in his unbeaten knock. Iyer, playing with an injured hand, also looked in great touch.
Pooran's fifty a big help
On a high after his hefty IPL buyout, wicketkeeper-batter Nicholas Pooran returned to form with a brisk 61 as West Indies recovered from a mid-innings slump to post a fighting total.
The left-hander, who clinched a fat paycheck of Rs 10.75 crore from Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL mega auction, got back to rhythm in style, scoring his runs in 43 balls with five sixes and four boundaries.
The Windies No. 3, who endured an abysmal last IPL with 85 runs at a poor average of 7.72 and had scores of 18, 9 and 34 in the preceding three ODIs, made his intention clear by smashing Bhuvneshwar Kumar for a big six early on.
The Indian spin duo of Yuzvendra Chahal and debutant leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi derailed the Windies in the middle overs, but Pooran held on as the visitors unleashed their fury at the death by scoring 61 runs in the last five overs.
A fit-again Kieron Pollard, who missed the last two matches in the ODI series, played a cameo (24 not out from 19 balls) with two fours and one six. Jodhpur's googly man Bishnoi made his debut memorable as he returned tidy figures of 4-0-17-2, including the wickets of Roston Chase (4) and Rovman Powell (2) in a space of four balls.
Brief scores: West Indies: 157/7 (Pooran 61; Bishnoi 2/17, Patel 2/37); India: 162/4 in 18.5 overs (Rohit 40, Ishan 35, Suryakumar 34*; Chase 2/14). —