The West Indies have suffered a defeat against India at the Holkar Stadium in Indore, bringing the five-match T20 International series to 2-1 in the hosts’ favour. The Men in Maroon named a lineup featuring two changes, as Keemo Paul and Quentin Sampson came in for Shamar Springer and Romario Shepherd.
The West Indies chose to bowl and dismissed the dangerous Sanju Samson early. After that, the visitors were put under the pump. A 108-run partnership between Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan off only 40 deliveries put India in the driving seat for yet another total over 200.
Kishan scored 37 before getting out. Sharma scored 69 off just 30 deliveries. When both men lost their wickets in quick succession, a series of cameos from Tilak Varma (28), Nitish Reddy (21), and Axar Patel (20) saw India post 225.
The West Indies lost their captain and in-form opener, Shai Hope, early. After a pedestrian start, his opening partner, Kamil Pooran, put together a well-played 43 off just 27 balls. His runs came in a partnership with Shimron Hetmyer, who also scored 43.
In the middle overs, the Windies could not keep up with the required run rate, placing significant pressure on the back end of the innings. A partnership between Sherfane Rutherford (32 off 20) and Quentin Sampson (21 off 15) gave the Windies hope.
However, a series of well-executed yorkers by Arshdeep Singh (3/44) in particular, along with other contributions by the Indians, saw them defeat the Men in Maroon by 14 runs, becoming the first team to win batting first on this limited-overs tour. Shamar Springer scored a brilliant 35 off just 11 deliveries in vain.
The West Indies will look to level the series in a must-win game on Wednesday.
