WI vs IND: 1st T20I Review – Saini shines on debut as India scrape through to 1-0
They say low-scoring games are always the most interesting. In the 20 overs that West Indies managed to bat, they failed to score a three-figure total and lost nine wickets on the way. Before the Indian chase began, it looked like a one-sided contest. The visitors did manage to chase it down in the end, but not before making a meal of it.
With the ball stopping on a sticky surface, the conditions weren’t too batting-friendly despite Lauderhill’s reputation as a batting paradise. The West Indies batsmen struggled to get going and consistent pressure from the Indian bowlers kept the lid on. The Indian batters found it equally difficult to score off the Windies attack before they huffed and puffed to the finish line.
Check out the full scorecard here
Dream start for India, Saini
The Men in Blue couldn’t have asked for a better start to the match. Young Washington Sundar opened the bowling attack and sent opener John Campbell (0) packing on the second ball. Bhuvneshwar Kumar from the other end got rid of the dangerous Evin Lewis for another duck. Making his international debut for India, pacer Navdeep Saini then struck in his first over on back-to-back deliveries.
A settled Nicholas Pooran (20) tried to go for the big shot but instead got a top-edge that landed straight into Rishabh Pant’s hands. Shimron Hetmyer, trying to guide a back-of-a-length ball from Saini to third man, was bowled for a golden duck. Southpaw Khaleel Ahmed joined the party, dismissing Rovman Powell in the sixth over. West Indies were reduced to 33-5, with still 14 overs to left.
Navdeep Saini shines on India debut
Pollard to the rescue
With Andre Russell out of action, it was down to Kieron Pollard, Windies’ most experienced campaigner to shoulder the responsibility. Along with skipper Carlos Brathwaite, he started rebuilding the innings and took the attack to the bowlers, especially the spinners. The duo added 34 runs for the sixth wicket before Krunal Pandya took a blinder off his own bowling to dismiss Brathwaite. Pollard then continued the resurrection with Keemo Paul, adding another 18 crucial runs.
The Caribbean wickets kept tumbling at one end as Pollard tried his best to hold the fort at the other. But Saini came back to deny Pollard a well-deserved fifty in a wicket-maiden 20th over. West Indies finished with a paltry 95/9 on the board.
Kieron Pollard top-scored for the West Indies
Narine, Cottrell stall India’s chase
Shikhar Dhawan’s return from injury lasted less all of seven balls, as Sheldon Cottrell trapped him plumb in front for 1. Rohit Sharma (24) continued his fine World Cup form by getting off to a sublime start. But his struggle against Sunil Narine once again ended his stay at the crease. Despite the required run rate being well under 5, the opener played an unnecessary hoick by going across the line to the on side. On the next ball, Narine got Pant to play a futile slog-sweep for his second wicket.
Captain Virat Kohli (19), along with Manish Pandey (19), restored normalcy and kept the scoreboard ticking. But a brilliant yorker from Paul uprooted Pandey’s off-stump, while Kohli fell to Cottrell’s slower one. India were faltering at 70/5 in the 14th over.
India’s top 5 were back in the hut, and it was here that playing three all-rounders helped their cause. Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja chipped in as India inched closer to victory. Sundar, who struck with the ball in the first over of the Windies innings, unleashed a six to seal the win for Team India in the 18th over.
