Tarouba, Trinidad and Tobago, Aug 3 (AFP\/APP): West Indies stunned India by four runs to capture the opening Twenty20 International on Thursday as the tourists flopped in pursuit of a modest 150-run target.<\/p>\n
Well-placed at 77-3 in the 11th over thanks to debutant Tilak Varma’s top score of 39 and 21 from Suryakumar Yadav, India then lost six wickets for just 68 runs.<\/p>\n
Shimron Hetmyer, playing international cricket for the first time in 12 months, starred in the field for the West Indies taking three catches and effecting the run-out of Arshdeep Singh in the final over to bring the low-scoring clash to a conclusion.<\/p>\n
The 20-year-old Varma, who helped light up the IPL with 343 runs for the Mumbai Indians this season, hit three sixes in his 22-ball innings.
\nTwo of his sixes came in the first three balls he faced from Alzarri Joseph.<\/p>\n
His innings ended on the last ball of the 11th over when he was caught at fine leg by Hetmyer off pace bowler Romario Shepherd with the total at 77.<\/p>\n
Ten runs earlier, Suryakumar had been the third wicket to fall, brilliantly caught by Hetmyer who dived to his left at short extra cover off the bowling of Jason Holder.<\/p>\n
Skipper Hardik Pandya (19), Axar Patel (13) and Singh (12) all made useful contributions but struggled to force the pace on a slow pitch at the Brian Lara Stadium.<\/p>\n
Holder was particularly impressive for the West Indies with figures of 2-19 from his four overs and was named man of the match.<\/p>\n
Earlier captain Rovman Powell top-scored with 48 as the West Indies made 149-6 after winning the toss and opting to bat.<\/p>\n
Powell hit three fours and three sixes in his 32-ball knock after Nicholas Pooran fell for 41, but the West Indies were restricted to only 21 off the final three overs.<\/p>\n
Pooran was coming off a match-winning 137 not out in last week’s Major League Cricket final in the US for Mumbai Indians-backed MI New York.
\nLeg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal trapped Kyle Mayers leg-before for one and removed fellow opener Brandon King (28) the same way two balls later.<\/p>\n
Johnson Charles added just three before slicing a catch to Varma in the deep off left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav.
\nPooran and Powell gave the innings some momentum before both holed out either side of Hetmyer’s dismissal for 10.<\/p>\n
The next two games will be played in Bridgetown on Sunday and Tuesday before the series concludes at Lauderhill in Florida on August 12 and 13.
\nIndia won the two-Test series 1-0 before beating the West Indies 2-1 in the ODIs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tarouba, Trinidad and Tobago, Aug 3 (AFP\/APP): West Indies stunned India by four runs to capture the opening Twenty20 International on Thursday as the tourists flopped in pursuit of a modest 150-run target. Well-placed at 77-3 in the 11th over thanks to debutant Tilak Varma’s […]<\/p>\n
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