IND vs WI 2nd T20I: Another humiliating defeat for Team India, Pooran's 67 Helps West Indies Survive Late Collapse To Win By 2 Wickets; Take 2-0 Lead
Tilak Varma (51) made his first T20I half-century, but Nicholas Pooran (67) hit a brilliant 40-ball 67. West Indies lost four wickets for two runs late in the game, but they still won the game by two wickets, reaching 155/8, to win by two wickets and take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.
Romario Shepherd (2-28), Alzarri Joseph (2-28), and Akeal Hosein (2-29) each took two wickets, and India only just made it to 152/7 in 20 overs. This was thanks to Tilak Varma, who kept the innings together when he came in at 76/4 and played a great innings in what was only his second T20I.
Even though the star spinner Kuldeep Yadav got hurt. With the ball, India got off to a great start. Captain Hardik Pandya took two wickets on the first and fourth deliveries of the West Indies' first over of batting. When Kyle Mayers (15) was caught by Arshdeep Singh in front of the wicket in the fourth over, West Indies were down to 32/3 and faced the possibility of a disaster.
But Nicholas Pooran smashed a great fifty, showing off his power hitting as he scored 67 runs off 40 balls to help the home team come back. He and his team's captain, Rovman Powell, put up 57 runs together for the fourth wicket, which put his team on track to win.
Pooran pushed the ball away and hit shots at will against the Indian spinners, hitting six fours and four sixes. He hit Ravi Bishnoi, a leg-spinner, for a four and a six in the first two overs of the sixth over. Then, on the fourth and fifth deliveries of that exciting over, he hit boundaries.
He had already hit two fours in a row off of Mukesh Kumar. After Hardik hit two big shots in the first over, Pooran hit Pandya for a six over wide long-on, and then in the third over, he hit a short and wide ball outside off past point for a four.
Skipper Powell (21) and Shimrom Hetmyer (22) made important contributions but the West Indies lost three wickets in an outstanding 16th over with Romao Shepherd run out going for a second run in which the other player was not interested, Jason Holder given out by TV umpire, stumped by Ishan Kishan off Chahal and then the Indians got 'three reds' in DRS to send back Hetmyer, trapped lbw by Chahal, reducing the West Indies to 129/8. West Indies lost three of their wickets for two runs, and it looked like they were going to lose.
But Akeal Hosein (16 not out) and Alzarri Joseph (10 not out) helped them win with a 26-run stand for the unbeaten ninth wicket as the hosts reached 155/8 in 18.5 overs to take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series. This was the first time since 2016 that West Indies had won two T20I matches in a row against India.
India chose to bat first, but they had a bad start, losing three wickets for only 60 runs by the middle of the game. Shubman Gill (7) and Suryakumar Yadav (1) didn't get off to a good start, but Ishan Kishan and Tilak Varma helped the team make a small comeback.
In the first over, Kishan got lucky when a defensive prod he made just missed Rovman Powell. He hit Akael Hosein over deep square leg for a big six, and in the 10th over, he hit Romario Shepherd over the boundary for his second six. In between, he hit a boundary off both Alzarri Joseph and Kyle Mayers.
He was out for 27 after hitting all over a Romario Shepherd delivery and having his off-stump rocked back after being hit for a six off the next delivery.
After losing Sanju Samson (7) in the 12th over, India's score dropped to 76/4, and it looked like they might not be able to make a big score.
In the first T20I, Varma got the most runs for India with 39 off of 22 balls. During his 41-ball innings, he held one end up and hit five fours and one six. He hit the 100-run mark after 39 balls, when India had already passed the 100-run mark.
He started with a boundary off of Alzari Joseph and then hit back-to-back boundaries off of Jason Holder in the 11th over. He also scooped Mayers behind the wicket off of Mayers in the 8th over and reverse-swept Hosein over the deep third man boundary for a four.
He had the time of his life when the long-on defender ran from deep midwicket to long-on, but he was not able to catch the hard chance.
Hardik Pandya hit two sixes and scored 24 runs off of 18 deliveries, but he was out at the worst possible time in the 18th over. India got to a decent score, but they couldn't speed up because they lost wickets at important times.
In the end, it wasn't enough, and the West Indies won the next two games to go up 2-0 in the five-game series.
Brief scores: India 152/7 in 20 overs (Ishan Kishan 27, Tilak Varma 51, Hardik Pandya 24; Romario Shepherd 2-28, Alzarri Joseph 2-28, Akeal Hosein 2-29) lost to West Indies 155/8 in 18.5 overs (Nicholas Pooran 67, Rovman Powell 21, Shimron Hetmyer 22, Akeal Hosein 16 not out; Hardik Pandya 3-35; Yuzvendra Chahal 2-19) by two wickets.