Rishabh Pant heaps praise on Delhi Capitals teammate Rovman Powell post his fantastic display of power hitting during 2nd T20I at Kolkata.
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During the 2nd T20I between India and West Indies at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, the ‘Men in Blue’ prevailed over Kieron Pollard’s men yet again by 8 runs, in what was an edge-of-the-seat encounter between two top T20 sides in World Cricket.
Courtesy the win, India take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the 3-match T20I series, with the final encounter to take place on Sunday.
While there were at least half-a-dozen useful performances that were instrumental in India’s victory today, the match result eventually boiled down to India’s death bowling, as the likes of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Harshal Patel were handed the task to defend 37 runs in the last 3 Overs.
Chasing the score of 186/5 posted by India first up, West Indies were right in the game till the end, courtesy a 100-run partnership off 60 deliveries by Nicholas Pooran (62 off 41) and Rovman Powell (68* off 36) for the 3rd wicket.
But, it were the 18th (bowled by Harshal Patel) and the 19th Over (bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar) which leaked mere 8 and 4 runs respectively that eventually tilted the result in India’s favour.
With 25 needed of the final Over, and with Powell in no mood to throw in the towel, the 28-year-old made things interesting by tonking Harshal for two power sixes, but could eventually garner mere 16 runs to end up the team’s total at 178/3 in the 20 Overs.
Rishabh Pant heaps praise on Delhi Capitals teammate Rovman Powell
Earlier, India, on the back of admirable innings from Virat Kohli (52 offf 41) and then by Rishabh Pant (52 off 41) and Venkatesh Iyer (33 off 18) during the latter half of the innings, posted a challenging 186/5 after their 20 Overs.
Pant, who was eventually elected the ‘Player of the match‘ for his innings which was laden with 7 Fours and a Six, was all in awe of his new Delhi Capitals teammate Rovman Powell’s exhibition of power hits during the chase, which he was witness to from behind the stumps.
Powell, who smashed 4 Fours in addition to the 5 gigantic Sixes, was roped in by the Delhi Capitals’ think-tank for INR 2.80 Crore during the recently concluded IPL’s mega auction ahead of the imminent IPL 2022.
“I think Powell was hitting bullets out there but at the back of the mind I was happy as well because he will be playing for Delhi Capitals”, remarked Pant when asked to throw some light on Powell’s innings during the Windies chase.
