USA’s first tryst with T20I action between India and West Indies was a thriller that was eventually won by the Windies by one run in Florida. Two centuries and two fifties were scored in a game which saw nearly 500 runs scored and end in the final ball of the contest.
Although India won the toss and elected to field, it would have been the Windies who would have been happy with their efforts as the openers added a century partnership for the opening wicket and went on to finish with 246 thanks to a century by Evin Lewis and fifty from Johnson Charles.
In response, despite losing the chase master Virat Kohli early, fifty from Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul’s maiden T20I century and a cameo from MS Dhoni left India with eight to win off the final over. That equation came down to two off one ball but Dwayne Bravo kept his nerve and dismissed the Indian skipper to help his side take a 1-0 lead in the series.
Bravo reveals what he wanted to do
On his plans for the final over, Dwayne Bravo said: "With nine runs to go, I said we didn't have anything to lose. I'd like to test my skills in these kinds of situations. We know what MS can do. He can finish off the game with one hit. I wanted to ensure the first ball didn't go for a boundary.
“I wanted to keep my composure and back my skills with the two balls: the slower one and the yorker. We wanted to keep midwicket in to prevent him from just hitting it towards that region. I was a touch apprehensive to bowl the slower delivery, but then I saw MS walking across and so bowled it and it worked out.”
West Indies captain Carlos Brathwaite said: “ When Bravo said he was bowling a slower ball at the end, I told him that he had my backing. But in my mind I was thinking 'really?'. Yeah, Bravo is a champion. He always steps up. Never shies away from the challenge. We never do things easy, but we held our nerve. It was a great game of cricket.”
The Windies skipper heaped praise on the curator and the support from the crowd. “Kudos to the curator for preparing such a wicket. Even the outfield is brilliant as well. Lewis was told at the last moment that he was in the team. It was a tremendous effort. If we talk about criticism myself and the lower order did not finish the game. We could have got to 250-60 Thanks to the USA for support. We couldn't quite tell who was the home team,” he said.
Indian captain MS Dhoni admitted the batting line-up did all they could. “It was an amazing game,” he said. “We couldn't have expected more from the batting unit. The last ball, the thinking was right but the execution was wrong. Everything is judged by execution. We did most things right.
“Whenever there was a partnership, we kept the asking rate at just 12. I felt Rahul was outstanding throughout. The others too were superb because it's not always easy to chase down 250. A win would have been perfect, but there were so many things we did right today.”
Here is the reaction from the cricket fraternity:
Plenty of praise came KL Rahul's way Virender Sehwag:
Michael Vaughan:
Irfan Pathan:
Scott Styris:
Robin Uthappa:
Sachin Tendulkar:
Ravichandran Ashwin:
Yusuf Pathan:
VVS Laxman:
Yuvraj Singh:
Darren Sammy:
Virender Sehwag:
Dean Jones:
Ian Bishop:
Hashim Amla:
Not everyone was pleased with the amount of runs that was scored, Murali Kartik:
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