India vs Windies: 2nd T20I, Review- Rohit Sharma and India burst ‘Windies’ into pieces on Diwali

After comprehensively brushing aside the Windies in the first T20I by five wickets at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata, India would’ve wished to wrap up the series in Lucknow and they did exactly the same with a thumping 71-run victory. Most importantly, the Men in Blue won the series 2-0 with one match to be played at M.A Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

Rohit wreaks havoc

After winning the toss and electing to field first, the Windies had a torrid time in the outfield as India went on to rack up a colossal 195 for the loss of a couple of wickets in the 20 overs. Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma opened the batting and saw off the opening burst from Oshane Thomas, who has impressed ever since the ODI series, which the visiting team lost.

However, the duo cobbled together 49 runs inside the fielding restrictions to make use of the powerplay. They went on to put together 123 runs from 84 deliveries to lay the platform for a blistering finish. Left-arm spinner Fabian Allen gave the Windies something to cheer about with the wicket of Dhawan, who scored a well-compiled 41 from 43 balls with three fours.

Nevertheless, Rohit didn’t drop his guard and played until the very end. The Nagpur-born cricketer became the first batsman to score four T20I tons and he accomplished the same off merely 58 balls. His knock of 111 runs was laced with eight boundaries and seven hits into the stands. KL Rahul also threw the kitchen sink at everything to score 26 runs and propel India’s score.

Windies left clueless

The run-chase started on a worst possible note for the Caribbean team as left-arm speedster Khaleel Ahmed dismantled Shai Hope’s woodwork in the second over to draw first blood. Shimron Hetmyer and Darren Bravo tried to pull things back in control, but the required rate kept climbing alarmingly. Khaleel picked the dangerous Hetmyer in the sixth over to dash the Windies’ hopes.

Bravo scored 23 runs and fell prey to Kuldeep Yadav, who was helped by Rohit in first slip, taking a sharp catch. Nicholas Pooran paddle-swept the chinaman bowler for a boundary to start his innings. Unfortunately, he couldn’t read a wrong’un and the ball crashed into the stumps. Kieron Pollard’s travails in the series continued as Jasprit Bumrah got rid him with a short ball.

Denesh Ramdin, who was sent in the middle-order, huffed and puffed during his stay in the middle and could manage only 10 runs. At that point in time, the Windies required 115 runs from 38 balls and the match was all over bar the shouting. Skipper Carlos Brathwaite and Keemo Paul scored 15 and 20 respectively, but that never was going to be enough to the visitors to get over the line.

Brief Scores

India: 195/2 in 20 overs; (Rohit Sharma 111*, Shikhar Dhawan 43; Fabian Allen 1/33, Khary Pierre 1/49)

Windies: 124/9 in 20 overs; (Darren Bravo 23, Keemo Paul 20; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2/12, Jasprit Bumrah 2/30)

India win by 71 runs

Player of the Match: Rohit Sharma

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