Last Update on: November 4th, 2018 at 10:37 pm
Team India held nerves to seal the opening encounter of the three-match T20I series beating Windies by five wickets in a close fixture at the Eden Gardens.
Meanwhile, the new ball bowlers provided India with a good start following Rohit Sharma’s decision to opt bowl first. Umesh Yadav drew the first blood dismissing Denesh Ramdin in third over. Shai Hope was soon to follow with a brilliant piece of effort in the field from Manish Pandey and KL Rahul.
India continued their wickets taking spree as Windies struggled to offer any resistance. Shimron Hetmyer, who looked in good touch in the one-day internationals edged one to Dinesh Karthik off Jasprit Bumrah to put the visitors into more trouble. Reeling at 28 for three in 4.4 overs, debutant Krunal Pandya announced his arrival dismissing the dangerous looking Keiron Pollard.
Pollard, who returned to the international side after few months, showed some hint of form. He looked to steady the ship adding 14 runs before Pandya dismissed Pollard out.
Since then it was Kuldeep Yadav, who with his three-wicket haul put Windies on backfoot before Fabien Allen’s late contribution helped them go past the 100-run mark.
With 110 runs to chase, it was an easy looking target considering India’s heavyweight batting line-up. However, Windies struck in the first over to halt India’s run chase as Oshane Thomas had Rohit Sharma edged to Ramdin. Thomas continued his excellent form to rattle Shikhar Dhawan’s timber to put India on 16 for two within three overs.
The Caribbeans continued to surprise the host sending four of their batters back to the pavilion with only 45 runs in the scoreboard. Since then, Dinesh Karthik and Manish Pandey shared a crucial stand almost to steer India home. Although Pandey (19) departed, Karthik partnered debutant Krunal Pandya to take his side home.
The men in blues no lead the series 1-0 with two matches still to play.
Here is how the Twitter reacted as India beat Windies by wickets to go 1-0 up in the series:
Khaleel continues to impress. Can bowl well to different fields set for short and full length deliveries. That’s a captain’s delight.👍#WIvIND #T20I
— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) November 4, 2018
India win by 5 wickets. It would be interesting to see who would be given man of the match – Karthik or Krunal or somebody else.#INDvWI #WIvIND #INDvsWI
— Cricket Now 24/7 (@cricketnow247) November 4, 2018
This is not a T20I pitch. The ball is bouncing (awkward mostly), swinging, seaming. Seriously disappointed Dada @SGanguly99 😥 #WIvIND
— Adil Shaik (@AdShaik99) November 4, 2018
https://twitter.com/TheKarthik5/status/1059122796297682944
The Only Difference Between Team India's Batting And Pakistan's Batting Is Virat Kohli.
There Was A Time When Team India Was Dependent On Sachin And Now It's Kohli.#INDvWI #KingKohli #WIvIND
— Yasin…!!! (@Yaaaaaaseen) November 4, 2018
https://twitter.com/Raththi6Sajeewa/status/1059113606476746753
Guess wat.. Had @windiescricket scored 25-30 more runs today!!
This match would have been very close as the situation stands now!!
Sometimes our players take things too lightly (u know who I m referring to)#INDvWIN #INDvWI #WIvIND #INDvAUS #webelieveindhoni https://t.co/5gNfQaDYSv— Himanshu (@Himanshu_765K) November 4, 2018
Halfway through the match, who knew it would turn out to be thus interesting one. #INDvsWI #WIvIND #T20@deeputalks @cricbuzz @bhogleharsha @BCCI @windiescricket
— Hritvik Patel (@hritvikpatel) November 4, 2018
https://twitter.com/gajender00/status/1059105082833297409
Smart Captaincy 👍
Brilliant Field Placements 👍
Sensible Bowlers Rotating 👍
Well done 👏👏👏 @ImRo45 #INDvWIN #WIvIND
— TestCaptain 🇮🇳 (@TestCaptain1) November 4, 2018
https://twitter.com/tejas_pujare/status/1059102177128579074
Overs 4 Runs 13 Wickets 3 Absolutely Brilliant bowling @imkuldeep18 keep Shining like this 👍 #INDvWIN #WIvIND
— TestCaptain 🇮🇳 (@TestCaptain1) November 4, 2018
This is how dog-eat-dog world looks like!#WIvIND #INDvWI #INDvsWI pic.twitter.com/5yD3FvkNfY
— Cricket Now 24/7 (@cricketnow247) November 4, 2018
https://twitter.com/imdk342000/status/1059101713754439680
https://twitter.com/Sahil02182609/status/1059101490583879682