Vinode Mamchan
Published:
Monday, August 29, 2016
By now the Indian cricketers must be hating the sight of rain, as it denied them the chance of squaring the Paytm T20 series against the West Indies yesterday at the Central Broward Regional Park in Ft Lauderdale.
A week ago the elements prevented them from retaining their number one rank in Test matches and now this. After all the good work done by Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men in restricting the world champions to 143 all out in 19.4 overs.
Set the achievable target of 144 in 20 overs, the Indians reached 15 without loss in two overs, when rain poured down on the Broward outfield.
After mopping up operations, the umpires ruled it was still too wet for play and even as they walked off at 2.05pm, the rain came back down. With at least five overs need to constitute a match, It meant the West Indies won the series 1-0, after their narrow 1-0 victory in the first match on Saturday.
Earlier, the fans who turned up looking for more of the ball beating they got on Saturday, would have been disappointed because the pitch and the West Indies batsmen did not play as well.
India won the toss and predictably sent the opposition in with rain about. With Chris Gayle again missing out due to his back problems, Johnson Charles and Evin Lewis promised a lot. Their start of 24 came of 20 balls but Lewis, who got a century in the first game could not repeat. He was sent back by Mahammad Shami to give the Indians an early look in.
Charles tried his best and punched 43 runs in a lone fight, as the others looked uninspired.
With the pitch offering some purchase for the spinners Dhoni brought on leg-spinner Amit Mishra by over number six and he immediately made a telling blow - sending back Charles, who had faced 25 balls, hitting five fours and two sixes.
Off form batsmen Marlon Samuels and Lendl Simmons both fell with the score at 76 and although the West Indies batting ran deep, it was only impressive on paper. Mishra would end with the impressive figures of 3/24, while the finger spinner Ravi Ashwin would also make his mark in taking 2/11 of three impressive overs. When he trapped Ashwin leg before, Ashwin reached the plateau of 200 wickets in T20 internationals, the first Indian bowler to reach the mark.
SCOREBOARD
WI vs India
WI inns
J Charles Rahane b Mishra 43
E Lewis c Mishra b Shami 7
M Samuels c Dhoni b Bumrah 5
L Simmons st Dhoni b Ashwin 19
A Fletcher b Bumrah 3
K Pollard lbw Ashwin 13
A Russell c Kohli b Kumar 13
D Bravo b Mishra 3
C Brathwaite b Mishra 18
S Narine not out 9
S Badree b Shami 1
Extras lb4, w4, nb1 9
Total all out (19.4) 143
Fall of wkts: 24, 50, 76, 76, 92, 98, 111, 123, 133, 143.
Bowling: B Kumar 4-0-36-1, M Shami 2.4-0-31-2, A Mishra 4-0-24-3, R Jadeja 2-0-11-0, R Ashwin 3-0-11-2, J Bumrah 4-0-26-2.
India inns
R Sharma not out 10
A Rahane not out 4
Extras 1b 1
Total for 0 wkts(2ovs) 15
Bowling: A Russell 1-0-7-0, S Badree 1-0-7-0.
Result: Match abandoned.
West Indies win series 1-0.
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