Rain and 'technical delay' end India’s hopes of a victory as West Indies win series

08/28/2016

India’s hopes of levelling the series ended on a damp note after rain played spoilsport in the 2nd T20I at Florida on Sunday. Having won the 1st T20 by 1 run, West Indies won the series 1-0 as a 'technical delay' and the rain meant that the minimum number of overs required for D/L were not bowled.

Brief Scores: West Indies 143 in 19.4 overs (Charles 43(25); Mishra 3/24, Ashwin 2/11) vs India 15/0 in 2 overs (Rohit 10*(8))

After agonisingly missing out on a win in the first T20, India and the Windies faced each other once again with the series on the line. Gayle once again sat out with an injury as West Indies went in with an unchanged lineup, while India dropped Stuart Binny, who conceded 32 runs in an over in the first T20, in favour of Amit Mishra. Carlos Brathwaite once again called wrong, and India opted to bowl first, like they did in the first game. The match started 40 minutes late after technical difficulties interrupted the broadcast of the match, and it came back to haunt later.

Wickets slow the Windies down

In the first T20, the Windies ran away with the game in the opening 10 overs, scoring 132 runs during the period. It was the same ground, it was the same pitch, and everyone expected the same outcome. But unlike yesterday, when the Windies lost just one wicket in the first ten overs, India picked up three wickets in the opening ten and added one more in the first ball of the 11th over.

Evin Lewis, who scored a century in the first T20, was the first to depart on the day. Mohammed Shami pestered him with short balls and the southpaw surrendered his wicket in the 4th over by mistiming one to Amit Mishra at short fine leg. Mishra removed Johnson Charles with his first ball to inflict another blow just before the end of powerplay. After the powerplay, the Windies managed just 22 runs in four overs, and with the runs not coming, Lendl Simmons jumped out of his crease for a big shot only to see Ashwin bowling one wide down the leg side to enforce an easy stumping for Dhoni. Bumrah removed Samuels in the next ball, and all of a sudden the Windies were looking down the barrel at 76/4 in 10.1 overs.

Mishra turns it India’s way

The arrival of Amit Mishra in place of Stuart Binny added some variation to the India spin bowling line-up, and the leggie made the most of his chance by picking up three wickets. After struggling at 76/4 near the mid-way mark, the Windies lost two more wickets before they could cross three figures. Ashwin trapped Pollard in front of the wicket, while Bumrah cleaned up Andre Fletcher to leave the World Champions in real trouble.

After removing Charles earlier in the innings, Mishra returned for his second spell in the 16th over and once against struck straight away by removing Dwayne Bravo in the second ball of the over. The loopy leg-spinners were his main weapon in the opening spell, but, this time, he used a googly to hit the timber. Bhuvneshwar Kumar removed Andre Russell to inflict another blow, but skipper Brathwaite was still at the crease. He hit Mishra for a four and six on back-to-back balls, but once again the leg-spinner bounced back by hitting the stumps. Shami ended the Windies innings for 143 in the final over to give India a relatively easy target to chase.

Rain ends India’s chances

India rushed on to the pitch after the break in search of their win, and Rohit Sharma smashed Andre Russell for a six in the opening over to get India off to a flyer. But, rain arrived by the end of the second over to stop the play. India needed 28 runs by the end of the 5th over to win the match (under Duckworth-Lewis method, if India did not lose a wicket). But, the rain washed away the remaining time to help the Windies win the series 1-0 and left the Indian fans to rue the delayed start.

Rain and 'technical delay' end India’s hopes of a victory as West Indies win series

Comments

0 Comments