IND vs WI T20 Man of the Match: The veteran Indian batter bagged a match award for his crucial innings in the death overs.
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During the first T20I of the ongoing India’s tour of West Indies in Tarouba, India beat West Indies by 68 runs to extend their winning streak on the tour on the back of a fourth successive victory.
Chasing a mammoth 191-run target in the first-ever international match at the Brian Lara Stadium, West Indies never looked threatening enough to challenge India in spite of some hard-hitting and eye-catching sixes.
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Having lost top-order comprising of Kyle Mayers (15), Jason Holder (0) and Shamarh Brooks (20) in the powerplay itself, there was no coming back into the match for the hosts as they continued to lose wickets at regular intervals to eventually end up with a lacklustre 122/8 in 20 overs.
Playing a T20I after eight months, veteran India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was the pick of their bowlers with figures of 4-0-22-2. Ashwin, who dismissed West Indies captain Nicholas Pooran (18) and batter Shimron Hetmyer (14), was well-assisted by Arshdeep Singh and Ravi Bishnoi – both of whom also picked two wickets each.
IND vs WI T20 Man of the Match
Pooran’s decision of inviting India to bat first earlier in the day was followed by the visitors scoring 190/6 in their allotted quota of 20 overs. Captain Rohit Sharma’s (64) 27th T20I half-century, 22nd as an opening batter, 11th away from home, eighth as captain, fifth against West Indies and second in West Indies provided India with a flourishing start.
Having said that, India were reduced to 138/6 in 16 overs to lose their way right before the death overs. It was an unbeaten 24-ball 52-run seventh-wicket partnership between veteran India batter Dinesh Karthik (41*) and Ashwin (13*) which powered India to a winning total.
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Karthik, who hit four fours and two sixes at a strike rate of 215.78, was declared the Player of the Match for the fourth time in his career (second time in 2022) for playing an impact-generating knock on Friday.
“It was sticky. Not an easy wicket to bat on. It [finisher] is a very interesting role, you need the backing from the coach and the captain and that really helped. Important to assess the wicket and what kind of shots you need to play and that comes with practice,” Karthik told ESPN Caribbean during the post-match presentation ceremony.
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