The Indian
team responded to a fight from the West Indies with a similarly fascinating
approach as the duo of Virat Kohli and KL Rahul ensured that India chased down
a total of 208 runs with utmost entertainment and utterly pompous mood with the
captain paving the way and then rollicking over it in some stunning style,
whilst successfully signing off a trademark chase.
Going ahead
in this report, we review the match in further details:
Story of the Match
First Innings:
The West Indies batting took the bowlers to the cleaners. Image: BCCI
Quite different
from the pre-match expectations, the men from Caribbean were quite good in the entirety of their first innings as some brilliant hitting towards the second
phase of the innings meant that the score skyrocketed above 200 and thus posing
a relishing challenge in front of the home team. Evin Lewis commenced the
proceedings brilliantly as he scored 40 runs off 17 deliveries but it was
Shimron Hetmyer who assumed a more responsible role in the later stages of the
innings to ensure that his side managed to steer towards without declining the
scoring rate.
Kieron
Pollard went into a rampage later on with four sixes in his knock of 37 runs
whereas Jason Holder added the finishing touches in his 24 runs that comprised
of two maximums too. Washtington Sundar and Deepak Chahar were taken to the
cleaners as the latter conceded a mammoth 56 runs in his quota of four overs.
The Indians were sloppy in their catching as well and many pointed that out as
one of the decisive factors that allowed the Windies to elongate the total to
such an extent. Irrespective of that, it required a special effort from the
Indians to get past the 207-run-mark that West Indies had set earlier on…
Second Innings:
KL Rahul set up a strong base for Team India to build on. Image: BCCI
The Indian
innings started off with plenty of intent on display by KL Rahul, as he scored
three boundaries in Jason Holder’s first over of the match. It would have been
a much more convenient of a cruise if Rohit Sharma managed to stay on the
crease for long but Khary Pierre got the better off him pretty early onto the
game. From thereon, we witnessed a very strange passage of play where Virat
Kohli of all people was unable to time the ball to perfection during his time
on the crease. Most of his shots seemed to be a tad bit too over-anticipated,
and hence the sheer exquisiteness with which he kisses the ball with his willow
was missing for quite some time in tonight’s chase.
In fact, at
one point in time he had scored 20 runs off 20 deliveries and though that’s not
a scoring rate to absolutely go berserk and frown upon; most of the runs that
came off his blade seemed to be a bit too forced. KL looked to take the mantle
upon him and his innings of 62 runs from 40 deliveries was one of the major
highlights of the game as whenever the required run rate steeped up to an
extent, KL managed to keep it under control through his vast range of shots
that were on display in abundance tonight. Virat got into the groove really
well after KL’s dismissal as runs flew effortlessly thereafter amid the
jubilation from the crowd and the theatrics that he was involved in on the
field including an imitation of Chadwick Walton’s celebration after having
smoked him for a massive six just in the prior delivery. Rishabh Pant
contributed with two sixes and it was a delightful watch for the Indian fans
once Virat started pulling the strings and mastered over the proceedings just
like Virat does always.
All the details:
Player of the Match:
Virat Kohli:
Kohli put on a clinical masterclass to give Team India a fantastic victory. Image: BCCI
Who else,
but the captain himself?
Virat seemed
to be terribly out of touch for the first half of his innings. He was, I dare
say, trying too hard and was able to extract too little for his efforts.
However, he is not averse to remarkable turnarounds and after having gotten
into a fight of sorts, or a misunderstanding, a mishap; whatever you would like
to call it, he charged up. It is really difficult to stop Virat Kohli’s batting
phenomena when he is in complete momentum. And a charged up Kohli is even more
difficult to even pause for a bit. He went absolutely hysterical in his
approach, clearing boundaries for fun, twisting his strong wrists to loft those
balls amongst the crowd, celebrating outwardly, pumping up his teammates after
every ball and finally patting his own back after punching the final blow of
the innings. He is a different breed altogether, and an extravagantly special
one too.
Stats of the Match:
1: This is India’s highest ever run-chase in the history
of T20Is. The previous highest was 207 against Sri Lanka in Mohali back in
2009.
2: With 12
of them to his name, Virat Kohli is now the player to have won the most number
of Man of the Match awards in T20Is.
What’s
next for Team India?
The second T20I between India and West Indies will be played on the 8th
of December in the Greenfield International Stadium, Kerala.