India vs West Indies: 3 observations from 1st T20I as hosts clinch victory by 6 wickets

Led by their spinners and capped off by top innings by Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav, India clinched the first T20I against West Indies. Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to bowl first.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Deepak Chahar started off brilliantly. However, the spinners, led by Ravi Bishnoi, spun a web and contained the West Indies power hitters.

Chasing a target of 158, India got off to a blazing start courtesy of Rohit Sharma. There was a slight wobble and the Windies spinners controlled the middle phase of the innings. Suryakumar Yadav was then joined by Venkatesh Iyer and the duo took India home with seven balls to spare.

Venkatesh Iyer hits the winning runs for #TeamIndia as we win by 6 wickets.

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Here are 3 observations from the 1st India vs West Indies T20I.

3) Ravi Bishnoi impresses on debut

Ravi Bishnoi was impressive on his debut for India.

Before the first T20I, Indian captain Rohit Sharma had said that he was not too keen on experimentation and wanted to identify a side for the T20 World Cup. However, Ravi Bishnoi was handed a debut and he partnered Yuzvendra Chahal in the middle overs.

It was an outstanding initiation for Bishnoi as his skiddy googlies and fast leg-break extracted a response from the surface at the Eden Gardens. As has been the case with Bishnoi, he bowled a majority of googlies and attacked the stumps. This kept the power-hitters in check and he also picked up a couple of wickets in one over.

Bishnoi's googly trapped Roston Chase and he also bamboozled Rovman Powell. He ended his quota of four overs by giving away 17 runs and picking up a couple of wickets.

Ravi Bishnoi's dream come true moment 👏👏

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2) Nicholas Pooran finds his range

Pooran stepped up and put on a show against India.

After an underwhelming ODI series, Nicholas Pooran needed to step up and make his presence felt. He strode out at No. 3 in the first over and after sussing the conditions, he opened his shoulders and breezed past his 50.

Pooran found his rhythm once he got past his 50 and this was when his impressive stroke-making prowess came to the fore. A number of clean hits to the spinners and seamers gave the West Indies the momentum in the death overs.

However, Harshal Patel got the better of Pooran in the 18th over as he holed out to long-off and was dismissed for 61 runs.

1) Rohit's start, Surya's end

Rohit Sharma started off like a train during the Indian innings.

India had contained West Indies to 157 and this was never going to stretch the Indian batters. Captain Rohit Sharma has made a concerted effort to target the powerplay overs in the recent T20I innings and he came out all guns blazing.

India raced to 50 in just 4.3 overs and this set the stage perfectly for the rest of the innings. When Rohit was dismissed for 40 off 19 deliveries, he had put India on course. There was a slight wobble in the middle overs as West Indies spinners restricted the scoring rate.

However, Suryakumar Yadav continued doing what he does best. He strode out and smacked 34 runs off 18 balls. This innings saw India chase down the target with seven balls to spare. This was a convincing innings, which augurs well for India in the near future.