The Indian Cricket Team went down fighting in the 2nd T20I match against West Indies played at Providence Stadium, Guyana on 6th August 2023. Indian captain Hardik Pandya won the toss and decided to bat first. It was not an ideal start for the visitors as Shubman Gill and Suryakumar Yadav went cheaply. Sanju Samson did not deliver as he also perished for just 7 runs.
Ishan Kishan and Tilak Varma steadied the ship keeping the scoreboard ticking before Romario Shepherd produced a peach to dismiss Kishan. Kishan and Varma added 42 runs for the 3rd wicket.
Tilak Varma looked impressive taking singles and hitting boundaries on a slowish pitch. Varma completed his maiden T20I half-century off 39 deliveries. He was eventually caught by McCoy. Varma and Hardik Pandya added 38 runs for the 5th wicket. Ravi Bishnoi and Arshdeep Singh hit some valuable runs to help Team India post 152 for 7 in 20 overs. After the game, the captain said:
“With the current combination we have we will have to trust our top 7 batters to come good and hope the bowlers win you games. We must find ways to make sure we have the right balance, but at the same time batters need to take more responsibility.”
“If am being honest that was not a pleasing batting performance, we could have batted better. 160+ or 170 would have been a good total.”
Nicholas Pooran’s brilliance takes the game away from India
India got off to a perfect start as Hardik Pandya dismissed Brandon King and Johnson Charles in the first over itself. Nicolas Pooran was given out by the umpire but on review, it was overturned to not as it was missing the stumps. Arshdeep Singh dismissed Kyle Mayers to leave West Indies in trouble at 32 for 3.
Pooran looked in fine touch putting enough pressure on the Indian bowlers, especially Ravi Bishnoi. It was brilliant hitting by Pooran reaching a half-century off just 29 deliveries. Hardik Pandya struck to get rid of Rovman Powell caught by Mukesh Kumar. Pooran and Powell added 57 runs for the 4th wicket. Shimron Hetymer and Pooran steadied the ship with another important partnership putting on 37 runs before the match turned on its head. Pooran was eventually dismissed for 67 off 40 deliveries.
India got three wickets in the 16th over as Yuzvendra Chahal dismissed Jason Holder and Shimron Hetymer while Romario Shepherd was run out. Chahal was not given the fourth over as Akeal Hossein and Jospeh won the match for West Indies by 2 wickets with 7 balls to spare.
West Indies took a 2-0 lead in the 5-match T20I series. The third T20I match would be played at the same venue on 8th August.
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