West Indies have won the second T20i in Guyana from India by two wickets to take a lead of 2-0 in the five-match series.
On Sunday, In another thrilling match, West Indies won over India by two wickets in Guyana to take the lead in five-match series. This was the first instance where India lost back-to-back matches in a T20 series against West Indies. India hasn’t lost a T20i series with West Indies since 2016.
Tailenders of West Indies took their team over the line as Akeal Hosein scored the winning runs with Alazarri Joseph. Nicholas Pooran continued his dream form and bagged the Player of the Match award for his brilliant power knock of 67 runs off just 40 balls on a slow pitch in Guyana.
Highlights of the second T20 between India and West IndiesÂ
Winning the toss, Indian captain Hardik Panya chose to bat first as the pitch seemed slow. India lost their two key batters in the powerplay Shubman Gill and Suryakumar Yadav. Shubhman Gil got out in the third over trying to play a big shot whereas Suryakumar Yadav got run out in the following over.
The Young star Tilak Verma shines in his just second International match as his batting helped team India to reach a total of 152. Tilak played an excellent and composed knock on a difficult pitch scoring his first International half-century and eventually getting out to Akeal Hosien. Once again, Sanju Samson couldn’t make most of his chance and got out cheaply on just 7 runs.
Captain Hardik Pandya played some shots and scored 24 off 18 balls. Indian tailenders struggled to bat and the team scored a total of 152. The Indian team had an impressive start with the ball as captain Hardik Pandya got out Brandon King on the very first ball of the match. He also got rid of Johnson Charles in his first over.
Arshdeep Singh got rid of Kyle Mayers in the fourth over of the match and India was in the driving seat to win the match, but Nicholas Pooran ruined their party. He counter-attacked India by scoring quick runs continuing his dream form. He smashed 67 off 40 deliveries.
When it was looking like there is no stopping for West Indies, the sixteenth over of Yuzevendra Chahal turned the game for India. He took two wickets in an over and one run out and suddenly Windies were eight wickets down. Surprisingly, Yuzevendra Chahal did not complete his quota of overs and Alzarri Joseph and Akeal Hosein stayed composed and helped Windies win the match.
What are the criticisms Team India facing after their second consecutive loss?
Team India has never lost two consecutive T20 matches against West Indies before yesterday. There were lots of questions about the team selection and captaincy of Hardik Pandya.
We might see a change in team combination in the third match as Ishan Kishan has a very poor record in T20s. He averages just 24 in the format, Yashasvi Jaiswal might replace him as an opener. One more concerning thing for the team is the inconsistency of Sanju Samson. He hasn’t made most of his chances given on the tour.
The rough form of Suryakumar Yadav is one more major concern for India as he hasn’t performed in both the matches and in ODIs as well. One more interesting fact is that India is playing four number 11 batters in their team as a result they have a long tail.
There were lots of talks about the captaincy of Hardik Pandya as well. The questions were why Yuzevendra Chahal did not complete his quote of overs even though he bowled a game-changing sixteenth over in the match. Axar Patel too wasn’t seen bowling in the match on the slow and sluggish surface which may have suited him.
