Kolkata: Team India will take on West Indies in the second T20 International of the three-match series at the Eden Gardens Stadium here on Friday.
Despite a few changes to their setup from the ODI series, India continued their winning momentum in the first T20I.
The bowlers were brilliant for most parts, keeping the aggressive West Indies batters under check. On a pitch that provided some assistance to the bowlers, the seamers first kept a lid on the opposition before the spinners struck in the middle overs.
Skipper Rohit Sharma still wasn't happy with the performance though, asking his batters to be more efficient when it comes to finishing a game off. This will be an area which the Indian side will look to improve as they aim to seal the series.
West Indies captain Kieron Pollard felt his side was a few runs short while setting up a total especially with dew being a major factor in Kolkata.
Improving in the batting department will again be the key area of focus for the visitors who will need to find their rhythm while setting up or chasing a total.
The bowlers bowled admirably well to keep the side in the contest and Pollard will hope that they showcase the same verve in the second match.
In the first match, batting first, West Indies could never quite get their acceleration right throughout the innings. Just when it seemed as though a batter would settle and threaten to take the game away from India, the hosts struck back and kept the scoring rate under check. They especially found it hard to score against the debutant Ravi Bishnoi, who ended up with impressive figures of 2/17.
In the end, a total of 157/7 proved to be under-par. In reply, Rohit got the Indian innings off to a blistering start before West Indies struck back in the middle overs.
But Suryakumar Yadav and Venkatesh Iyer ensured that there were no hiccups at the end, completing a clinical job to seal a 6-wicket victory for India with seven balls to spare. Yadav scored 34 not out, while Iyer chipped in with 24 not out.
"Should have finished that off a little early, wanted to be clinical. Happy with the win and we can take a lot of confidence from this game. Restricting them to that score was a great effort from the bowlers. With the bat, we were not clinical and it's something we can learn from," said Rohit.
Pollard said, "Between overs 6-15 we only scored 46 in 9 overs and if we had 18-20 more runs during that phase it would have been competitive. After six overs they were in front, but I thought the bowlers and fielders did really well to pull things back. Different times calls for different things, they have quality bowlers and we have to play it as we see it. The guys are working hard to get things right and again it's just a matter of setting it up properly." (UNI)
