Twitter reacts as Kuldeep Yadav and Krunal Pandya help India beat West Indies in 1st T20I
From the 12-man squad announced by India earlier, Yuzvendra Chahal and Bhuvneshwar Kumar were the ones left out. While debutant Krunal Pandya was picked ahead of Chahal as the second spinner, Umesh Yadav came in for an unwell Kumar. Khaleel Ahmed who was impressive in the ODIs also made his debut for India in T20Is.
On the other hand, three cricketers - Oshane Thomas, Fabian Allen, Khary Pierre - made their respective debuts for the West Indies. Keeping the dew factor in mind, the Indian captain, Rohit Sharma, asked Windies to bat first after winning the toss. The visitors did not get off to a good start as they lost three wickets within the first five overs.
While Umesh Yadav sent Denesh Ramdin to the pavilion in the third over, Ramdin's opening partner, Shai Hope was run out in the very next over. In the fifth over, Jasprit Bumrah got the wicket of the very dangerous Shimron Hetmyer.
The fourth wicket for India came off debutant Krunal Pandya's bowling. The all-rounder got the key wicket of the dangerous Pollard. Darren Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Rovman Powell, and Carlos Brathwaite all tried their best to stabilise the innings but gave their wickets away after spending some time in the middle.
It was the 20-ball 27 from debutant Fabian Allen that helped Windies post a total in excess of 100. In the end, the two unbeaten batsmen Keemo Paul and Khary Pierre too contributed by hitting two boundaries each. While Kuldeep Yadav was the pick of the Indian bowlers with three wickets to his name, the other four bowlers picked a wicket each in their quota of overs.
Just like the visitors, India too did not get off to a good start as they lost both their openers to Oshane Thomas. The lanky West Indian speedster the wicket of the Indian captain off the last ball of the first over. Thomas, who got the wicket of Shikhar Dhawan twice in the ODI series, clean bowled the southpaw in the third over.
After the initial breakthroughs provided by Thomas, the West Indian captain Carlos Brathwaite was exceptional with the ball. He not only took the wickets of Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul but was also miserly with the ball in hand. He gave away just 11 runs in his quota of four overs. The brilliant bowling by the two pacemen meant that India lost four wickets within the first eight overs.
After the first four wickets, a useful 38-run partnership between Dinesh Karthik and Manish Pandey stabilised the Indian innings. At the 15-over mark, Krunal Pandya joined DK in the middle with India needing 27 runs off the last 5 overs.
Krunal made the most of the opportunity as he scored 21 runs off just 9 balls without taking many risks. As a result of the left-handed all-rounder's fast-paced innings, India won the match with 13 balls to spare.
Here's how Twitter reacted to India's victory over the T20I champions: