Pooran's 67 helps West Indies survive late collapse to win by 2 wickets

Tilak Varma 51 struck his maiden T20I halfcentury but Nicholas Pooran hammered a brilliant 40ball 67 and West Indies survived a major scare losing four wickets for two runs late to reach 1558 to win the match by two wickets and take a 20 lead in the fivematch seriesRomario Shepherd 228 Alzarri Joseph 228 and Akeal Hosein 229 claimed a brace of wickets each as India barely managed to reach 1527 in 20 overs thanks to Tilak Varma who held the innings together coming in at 764 and responding with a superb knock in what is only his second outing in T20I cricketDespite losing star spinner Kuldeep Yadav to an injury India got off to a superb start with the ball as skipper Hardik Pandya claimed two wickets in the first and fourth deliveries of the opening over of the West Indies reply And when Arshdeep Singh trapped Kyle Mayers 15 in front of the wicket West Indies were 323 in the fourth over and facing the prospect of a debacleAlso Read Team Indias Big Three and the inevitability of successionHowever Nicholas Pooran blasted a superb halfcentury putting up a brazen display of powerhitting as he scored 67 off 40 deliveries to help the hosts recover He shared a 57run partnership with skipper Rovman Powell for the fourth wicket that set his team on course to victoryPooran muscled away the ball hitting shots at will against the Indian spinners as he hammered six boundaries and four sixes He pummelled legspinner Ravi Bishnoi for a four and six on the first two overs of the sixth over and then blasted boundaries off the fourth and fifth deliveries of that eventful over He had earlier struck two backtoback boundaries off Mukesh Kumar After Hardik had struck double blows in the first over Pooran heaves Pandya for a six over wide longon and then slashes a shortish and wide delivery outside off past point for a four in the third overSkipper Powell 21 and Shimrom Hetmyer 22 made vital contributions but the West Indies lost three wickets in a sensational 16th over with Romao Shepherd run out going for a second run in which his partner was not interested Jason Holder given out by TV umpire stumped by Ishan Kishan off Chahal and then the Indians got three reds in DRS to send back Hetmyer trapped lbw by Chahal to reduce West Indies to 1298 West Indies lost three wickets for two runs and were staring at defeatHowever Akeal Hosein 16 not out and Alzarri Joseph 10 not out saw them through in a thrilling finish by sharing a 26run partnership for the unfinished ninth wicket as the hosts reached 1558 in 185 overs to take 20 lead in the fivematch series This was the first time since 2016 that West Indies defeated India in two successive T20I matchesEarlier electing to bat first India got off to a poor start losing three wickets for just 60 runs by the midway stage Opener Shubman Gill 7 and Suryakumar Yadav 1 failed to click but Ishan Kishan and Tilak Varma scripted a mini recoveryKishan was lucky in the first over when a defensive prod by him fell just short of Rovman Powell He hammered Akael Hosein for a big six over deep square leg and once again went over the boundary in the 10th over when he swiped Romario Shepherd for his second six In between he struck a boundary each off Alzarri Joseph and Kyle Mayers before he was out for 27 playing all over a delivery by Romario Shepherd and had his offstump rocked back off the very next delivery after being struck for a sixIndia slumped to 764 after losing Sanju Samson 7 in the 12th over and looked in danger of failing to put up a big scoreVarma who topscored for India with 39 off 22 balls in the first T20I held one end up as he blasted a fine halfcentury hitting five fours and a lone six during his 41ball knock He reached the milestone of 39 balls as India crossed the 100run markHe started with a boundary off Alzari Joseph and then blasted backtoback boundaries off Jason Holder in the 11th over scooped Mayers behind the wicket off Mayers in the eighth over and reverse swept Hosein over deep third man boundary for a four He enjoyed a life when the longon fielder ran in from deep midwicket to longon but could not pouch the tough chanceHardik Pandya landed a few lusty blows in scoring 24 off 18 deliveries but was out in the most inappropriate time in the 18th over hitting two sixes India managed to reach a modest score failing to accelerate after losing wickets at crucial juncturesIn the end it did not prove enough as the West Indies surged to a 20 lead in the fivematch seriesBrief scoresIndia 1527 in 20 overs Ishan Kishan 27 Tilak Varma 51 Hardik Pandya 24 Romario Shepherd 228 Alzarri Joseph 228 Akeal Hosein 229 lost to West Indies 1558 in 185 overs Nicholas Pooran 67 Rovman Powell 21 Shimron Hetmyer 22 Akeal Hosein 16 not out Hardik Pandya 335 Yuzvendra Chahal 219 by two wicketsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday 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