India vs West Indies 2018, 1st T20I: Who Said What
After a bit of hard work, the Indian team finally registered a 1-0 lead in the 3-match T20I series against the West Indies. Krunal Pandya, who was playing his first international match, made his debut a special one by performing the finishing duties brilliantly and winning the game for his team in the end.
Winning the toss, India elected to field first. The visitors had a disastrous start as they lost 3 wickets inside 5 overs on the score of 28. Once Hetmyer was dismissed, Kieron Pollard and Darren Bravo tried to build a partnership which was eventually broken by the debutant Krunal Pandya, who dismissed his IPL-teammate Pollard, in the 10th over.
Windies couldn't recover from there as they lost wickets of Bravo, Powell and Brathwaite inside 15 overs. The team could score only 109 runs for the loss of 8 wickets in 20 overs.
Chasing a small total of 110, the Indian team lost the precious wicket of Rohit Sharma in the first over itself. The team soon lost the wickets of Shikhar Dhawan, Rishab Pant and then KL Rahul. Manish Pandey and Dinesh Karthik then decided to take charge as they played slowly but steadily and gradually started to increase the tempo of the innings. But Pierre dismissed Manish Pandey on the last ball of the 15th over which gave the visitors a bit of hope.
Krunal Pandya then walked out and played a brilliant cameo along with Dinesh Karthik at the other end. Both these batsmen eventually ensured that the Indian team won the game to take a 1-0 lead in the T20I series.
Here is what the captains said:
Carlos Brathwaite: Didn't apply ourselves. Never got into second or third gear. Were either too defensive or too attacking. Can see the way Keemo and Allen finished, if we had wickets in hand we would've got 130-140 which would've been a winning score. Understand the privilege to represent Windies. Don't know what the long-term plans will be from the selection panel. But had a few chats with him (Oshane Thomas). For him, the world is at his feet. Will try to guide him as well as we can.
Rohit Sharma: Exceptional performance with the ball. Was a lot on offer for the seamers. Even with spinners, it wasn't easy. Overall there was a little bit for every department. To start with, we bowled well - good areas. Used the conditions perfectly. Knew the chase wasn't going to be easy. Hopefully, we can learn from these mistakes. Oshane Thomas is a really exciting talent. If he bowls in good areas, it's not going to be easy for batsmen to counter it.
The advantage of height gives him that extra edge. Wish him the best in the future but not against us. Very exciting talents again - Krunal and Khaleel. Krunal - I've seen him closely in last two-three years for MI. When he came into bowl, Pollard was batting. He was the one who wanted to bowl against him. These guys are ready to take those challenges. Exciting for the captain when you see that. If they continue to work on their skills, India's going to benefit for sure.
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