After a decent show in the first few One Dayers, the Windies lost plot. It carried onto the T20 internationals, a format that the Caribbeans are renowned for. Sadly, the shortest format too was a disappointment like the rest of the tour for the Windies. Carlos Brathwaite’s men were bamboozled between Dhawan-Rohit and Kuldeep-Bumrah throughout the series.
In a series which didn’t have high profile players like Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni and Chris Gayle, the amount of fireworks weren’t expected to be high enough. However, there were definitely some extraordinary moments with India ending up having the last laugh every time. Rohit Sharma went on to mantain his track record of never having lost a series as the Indian skipper.
Kolkata doesn’t remember the name
Both captains may have bypassed a lot of memories as they walked out for the toss in Eden Gardens. For Rohit Sharma, he recorded a mammoth score of 264, won the IPL and made his Test debut on the same ground. Brathwaite on the other hand hit four consecutive sixes here when his team needed 19 in an over to win the WT20. India elected to field first as Krunal Pandya made his first appearance in the blue jersey.
The Windies were off to a poor start as they lost quick wickets. Before they could recover, Kuldeep Yadav weaved his magic as the Caribbean batsmen were totally outfoxed. The visitors were restricted to 109/8 in their quota of 20 overs. However, it wasn’t quite a walk in the park for India. Youngster Oshane Thomas and Brathwaite did well to reduce India to 45-4. Dinesh Karthik again came to the rescue as he and Krunal Pandya’s quickfire cameo took India towards the finishing line.
Lucknow roars for Rohit
The Windies elected to chase this time unaware of the storm that was approaching. Rohit Sharma went on to slam his fourth century in T20 internationals. A sensational 111 runs from just 61 balls with seven sixes. KL Rahul also played a quickfire innings in the end as India posted a large first innings total of 195-2. Brathwaite who had figures of 2/11 in the previous game went for 56 runs in his spell of four overs. None of the bowlers could withstand the Hitman in full flow.
The Windies were again off to a patchy start. Khaleel Ahmed sent back both the openers inside the powerplay overs. Darren Bravo looked good before Rohit Sharma took off a stunner at slip. It was his day afterall and nothing could’ve gone wrong. The likes of hard hitters such as Kieron Pollard and Nicholas Pooran were dismissed cheaply. The visitors faced a thumping loss by 71 runs as the Indian bowling was absolutely magnificent for a second consecutive time.
Delhi boys take over Chennai
Earlier, the opening duo of Shai Hope and Shimron Hetmyer put up 51 runs in the powerplay. Yuzvendra Chahal did well to get both of them off consecutive overs. Debutant Washington Sundar also managed to get a wicket. While Darren Bravo scored a significant 43(37)*, the star for the Windies batting lineup was Nicholas Pooran. He scored a splendid 53(25)* with four sixes and four boundaries to take Windies to 181/3.
When was the last time a North Indian took over Chennai? No this isn’t slightly about Shah Rukh Khan’s Chennai Express. On a day where India finally got a good challenge from the Windies batsmen, Shikhar Dhawan displayed his aura. The young Rishabh Pant too joined the party as both combined for a scintillating 130 run partnership from just 78 balls. It turned out to be a last ball thriller as Manish Pandey managed to keep his nerves to secure a single off the last ball.