[Watch] Tilak Varma dismisses Nicholas Pooran off his second ball in international cricket in 5th T20I vs WI
Team India's latest batting sensation Tilak Varma also starred with the ball when they needed a breakthrough the most in the fifth and final T20I against the West Indies. The youngster struck in his first over of international cricket, dismissing the in-form Nicholas Pooran.
The dismissal occurred in the 14th over of the innings when skipper Hardik Pandya was bereft of ideas against Pooran and Brandon King. With Varma coming on to bowl off-spin, Pooran went for the reverse sweep and got an edge as it lobbed to Pandya at slip. The left-hander did call for the DRS, but it went against him.
Below is how the dismissal took place:
https://twitter.com/JioCinema/status/1690802690224177152?s=20
The 20-year-old's off-spin nearly yielded a wicket on his first delivery in international cricket as the ball went past Pooran's bat and Sanju Samson whipped the bails off. However, the southpaw put his leg back in the crease just in time.
Tilak Varma's cameo goes in vain as West Indies win the series decider
Earlier, Pandya won the toss and chose to bat, but openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill departed for single-figure scores after sizzling in the fourth T20I. Suryakumar Yadav top-scored with 61, while Varma made an 18-ball 27 before being dismissed by Roston Chase.
Despite losing Kyle Mayers in the second over, the hosts motored along as Pooran and King added 107 in 72 deliveries. After Pooran departed, Shai Hope added an unbroken 52 off 28 balls with King, who remained unbeaten on 85. Romario Shepherd earned the Player of the Match award for his figures of 4-0-31-4.
It was also West Indies' first T20I series win over India since 2017. They had already gathered a 2-0 lead after the first two games before conceding the next two. It is a morale-boosting victory for them, given their failure to qualify for both the 50-over and 20-over World Cup.