Team India beat West Indies by 68 runs in the first T20I in Toruba, Trinidad on Friday to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.
Captain Rohit Sharma’s brilliant half-century and Dinesh Karthik’s brilliant finish allowed India to post the highest T20 total – 190/6 – at the Brian Lara Stadium, which was hosting the first international match.
In response, the hosts surrendered to the powerful Indian bowling attack. The spin trio of Ravichandran Ashwin (2/22), Ravi Bishnoi (2/26) and Ravindra Jadeja (1/26) shared five wickets between them while Arsdeep Singh (2/24 in 4 overs) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar ( 1/2) /11 in 2 overs), despite some early pasting, had his share of successes. The tourists thus restricted the West Indies to 122/8.
Rohit and Karthik had propelled India’s innings after a lackluster performance from the top order. The Indian captain, speaking in the post-match presentation, admitted that a score of 190 was not expected, especially the way they finished the first 10 overs.
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“We knew it was going to be a bit tough. It wasn’t easy to make shots at the beginning. The guys that have been drafted need to go for a long time and the way we finished the first innings was a great effort. “When we finished the first 10 overs, we didn’t think we would reach 190,” Rohit said.
“It was a great effort and a great finish from the boys. There are three aspects of the game that we are trying to improve. We have to try ideas on how to execute it with the bat,” the skipper added. .
The first T20I saw a completely new opening pair where Rohit walked out to bat with Suriyakumar Yadav. The duo provided a fine start to the innings, adding 44 runs for the opening wicket before falling to Aqeel Hussain.
Rohit said the team wanted to try a few things and at the end of the day it was a great effort from the players.
“We want to try some things and all in all I thought it was a great effort. Some pitches won’t allow you to do that, and we need to figure out how we go about it. It’s all about backing your talents and strengths,” Rohit concluded.
India and West Indies will now meet in the second T20I at Basseterre in St Kitts on Monday.
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