West Indies were on top of their game in the first T20I against South Africa on Saturday as the Men in Maroon performed really well with the ball as well as the bat at the National Cricket Stadium, St George's, Grenada.

After restricting the Proteas to just 160 runs in 20-overs, the home team chased it down with 30 balls to spare and 8 wickets in hand. Thus, West Indies skipper Kieron Pollard hailed the opening batsman Evin Lewis for his explosive knock at the top.

“The way we went out and chased it with that sort of attitude, guys playing to their strengths, it was well done. Talented cricketer, we'd love to see more from Evin on a consistent basis. We hope that the consistency can continue,” Pollard said.

Lewis scored 71 runs off just 35 deliveries with 4 boundaries and 6 sixes that helped West Indies go 1-0 up against visitors in the 3-match series.

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“We spoke about trying to hit the first punch. South Africa got off to a pretty good start. Credit to the bowlers how they came back in the middle overs and in the back end using the variations and using the dimensions of the ground. 160, I think that is on par,” the right-hand batsman said.

The 34-year-old then talked about how he was delighted to see the way their youngsters performed against some of the experienced and lethal South African pacers like Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje.

“For us, it is not about one individual but the entire team. Winning the game with overs to spare and wickets in hand is a start for us. We have a young team from a Test cricket point of view. These guys would not have faced the likes of Rabada and Nortje. For us, we are a little bit familiar. We cannot get too much ahead of ourselves. We will try to get better,” the West Indies skipper said after the first T20I.

(With ANI inputs)