THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It’s an open secret that India are the chase-masters. But, it’s also known that their Achilles heel is defending a total. In the second T20I at Greenfield Stadium on Sunday, this weakness was exposed by the West Indies, who secured an eight-wicket win to level the series.
The big question for West Indies when they walked out was how to tame Virat Kohli and India’s top three. Their batsmen can hit sixes all day, post big totals or chase them. But here, it was about how their bowlers can contain KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma and Kohli. It was a balmy evening and Windies skipper Kieron Pollard was sweating at the toss.
India decided not to tinker with the XI that won the first match and so, there was no happy homecoming for local favourite Sanju Samson, who had to settle for serving drinks.The visitors made a shaky start. Pollard’s team had conceded 23 runs in extras in the last match and here, Sheldon Cottrell bowled a wide which raced away to the boundary. He conceded six runs in extras in the very first over.
They re-grouped and got the big wicket of Rahul, who tried to slog sweep spinner Khary Pierre and departed cheaply. India made a surprising move by promoting Shivam Dube to No 3.
Playing only his fifth T20I, Dube faced the big task of steering India out of a sticky spot. Dube hit a six and a four off consecutive deliveries of Jason Holder to get some momentum going. But then, India suffered another setback when Rohit tried to paddle scoop Holder only to be castled. Then Dube got going and struck Pollard for three sixes in an over.
Whether it was the adrenaline of reaching his first half-century, Dube was swinging his bat at everything. He was afforded a lifeline when Pollard dropped him but just two balls later, his innings came to an end when he sliced a shot straight into the hands of Shimron Hetmyer.
While it was a big day for Dube, skipper Kohli reached a landmark as he became the highest run-getter in T20Is — overtaking teammate Rohit.
But he departed for 19 and the dismissal came off a delivery by Kesrick Williams. If Kohli had taunted Williams in the first T20I, Williams decided not to give it back and was just happy silencing the crowd. India went on to post 170 for seven.
India’s defence was not helped by some clumsy fielding. Washington Sundar and Rishabh Pant dropped Lendl Simmons and Evin Lewis, respectively, in the same over. Bhuvneshwar Kumar could only look on in frustration.
Lewis went on to hit two sixes off Washington in the next over and the two went on to forge a 73-run partnership. As the visitors were in power-hitting mode, Kohli gave a lesson in fielding with a stunning athletic catch to dismiss Hetmyer but West Indies were dealing in sixes and they ran away with the tie. Simmons played a match-winning knock of 67.
The third and final T20I of this series will take place at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on December 11. There are three ODIs after it.
Brief scores
India 170/7 in 20 ovs (Dube 54, Pant 33 n.o) lost to West Indies 173/2 in 18.3 ovs (Simmons 67 n.o, Lewis 40, Pooran 38 n.o).
1 For the first time in 30 T20 innings (including domestic ties), Shivam Dube was sent out to bat in the top-3.
3 This is Lendl Simmons’ first T20I fifty in three years. He made 82 against India in the 2016 WT20 semifinal.
28 Sixes smashed by Evin Lewis against India in T20Is, the most against the Men in Blue in the format.