The first T20I of the five-match series between West Indies and India got underway at the Brian Lara Stadium, Tarouba, Trinidad, the first international T20 match at this venue on July 29, 2022.
West Indies captain Nicholas Pooran won the toss and chose to bowl first and revealed that Alzarri Joseph was making his T20I debut and Shimron Hetmyer was back in the team. India, on the other hand, came into the match with three spinners in R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, and Ravi Bishnoi.
Rohit Sharma top-scored with 64 in 44 balls with 7 fours and 2 sixes and during his knock went past Martin Guptill to become the highest run-getter in T20Is. Suryakumar Yadav who opened the innings made 24 runs. Shreyas Iyer made 0, Rishabh Pant made 14, and Hardik Pandya 1.
In the end, Dinesh Karthik’s 41* in 19 balls with 4 fours and 2 sixes and Ashwin’s 13* and their 52* partnership in 25 balls helped India to a final total of 190/6. For the home side, debutant Alzarri Joseph took 2/46.
Arshdeep Singh gave India its first breakthrough, removing Kyle Mayers for 15 and Bhuvneshwar Kumar dismissed Shamarh Brooks for 20 runs. Then it proved to be the case of West Indies batters struggling to negotiate the wily Indian spinners as Jadeja got Jason Holder out for a duck.
Ravi Bishnoi scrapped two wickets dismissing Rovman Powell (14) and Odean Smith (0), while R Ashwin got rid of dangerous Nicholas Pooran for 18 and Shimron Hetmyer for 14 runs. In the end, West Indies finished on 122/8 in 20 overs and lost the match by 68 runs.
For India, R Ashwin (2/22), Arshdeep Singh (2/24), and Ravi Bishnoi (2/26) were the wreckers-in-chief.
The second T20I will be played in Basseterre on August 1.
BRIEF SCORES:
IND 190/6 (R SHARMA 64, D KARTHIK 41*) defeated WI 122/8 (S BROOKS 20; R ASHWIN 2/22) by 68 runs.
India leads the 5-match T20I series 1-0.
