India clinch T20 series win against WI, take 2-0 lead

India defeated West Indies by 8 runs in the second T20 in Kolkata on Friday. After winning the toss, WI decided to put India into bat. India lost the wicket of Ishan Kishan with the score on 10. Virat Kohli joined captain Rohit Sharma, and from the onset, showed a positive intent. Sharma after scoring a run-a-ball 19 got out on the bowling of Roston Chase, who has been a revelation on this tour.

Surya Kumar Yadav failed to repeat the good show from previous T20 outing scoring only 8. Demoted to no. 5 position, Vice Captain and wicketkeeper, Rishabh Pant as usual was in an aggressive mood, who tore the WI bowling, scoring 52 of 28 balls. After scoring his half century, Kohli lost his wicket to Chase.

Pant was then joined by the youngster Venkatesh Iyer, who too went berserk and scored 33 of 18 balls, taking India’s score to 186 in the allotted 20 overs.

West Indies in reply started comfortably, but the openers failed to make an impact. However, the Nicholas Pooran (62) and Rovman Powell (68) played sensibly and kept scoring at a brisk pace till the 19th over. On the score of 159, with 28 more runs required off 9 deliveries, Bhuvaneswar Kumar got rid off the danger man Pooran. This was the over that changed the game in favor of the Indian team. Harshal Patel showed why he has been picked in the team ahead of others with some clever bowling, restricting the likes of Kieron Pollard to score big.

The third and final T20 is scheduled on Sunday (20th).