India battled their way to a six-wicket win in the first T20I against West Indies at the Eden Garden here on Wednesday. Chasing 158 for victory, India were off to a quick start with openers Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan putting on a 64-run stand, but the skipper fell for 40. Wickets of Kishan (35) and Rohit by Windies off-spinner Roston Chase hit India hard.
However, Suryakumar Yadav’s 34 not out and Venkatesh Iyer’s unbeaten 24 saw the hosts emerge victorious with seven balls to spare. Meanwhile, on a high after his hefty IPL buyout, wicketkeeper-batter Nicholas Pooran returned to form with a brisk 63 as West Indies recovered from a mid-innings slump to post a fighting 157 for seven.
India’s debutant Ravi Bishnoi celebrates a West Indian wicket in the first T20I at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, yesterday. Pic/PTI
The left-hander, who clinched a fat paycheck of Rs 10.75 crore from Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL mega auction, got back to rhythm in style, scoring his runs in 43 balls with five sixes and four boundaries. The Windies No.3, who endured an abysmal last IPL with 85 runs at a poor average of 7.72 and had scores of 18, 9 and 34 in the preceding three ODIs, made his intentions clear by smashing Bhuvneshwar Kumar for a big six early on.
The Indian spin duo of Yuzvendra Chahal and debutant leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi derailed the Windies in the middle overs by taking three wickets between them, but Pooran held on as the visitors unleashed their fury in the death by scoring 61 runs in the last five overs.A fit-again Kieron Pollard, who missed the last two matches in the ODI series, played a cameo (24 not out from 19 balls) with two fours and one six. Jodhpur’s googly man Bishnoi made his debut memorable as he returned tidy figures of 4-0-17-2.
20,000 spectators at Eden for 3rd T20I
The BCCI has decided to allow 20,000 spectators, mostly ticket holding members of Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) to watch the third and final T20I between India and West Indies on October 20. “As discussed with other office bearers, as per your request, you can open up for the last T20 match against West Indies at Eden,” BCCI president Sourav Ganguly wrote in an e-mail to CAB chief Avishek Dalmiya.
Brief scores
WI 157-7 in 20 overs (N Pooran 61, K Mayers 31, K Pollard 24*; R Bishnoi 2-17, H Patel 2-37) lost to India 162-4 in 18.5 overs (R Sharma 40, I Kishan 35, S Yadav 34*; R Chase 2-14) by six wickets
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