India vs West Indies 2019, 2nd T20I: 3 reasons why West Indies won the match

West Indies came out all guns blazing and leveled the three match T20 series against India at Thiruvananthapuram. After restricting India to 170/7, the Windies batsmen showed positive intent and neutralized the Indian bowling; eventually, the ‘Men in Maroon’ romped home by 8 wickets with 9 balls to spare.

India batted first and posted a challenging total on the board, courtesy a blistering 30-ball 54 from Shivam Dube. But the visitors made easy work of the total by walloping the Indian bowlers to all parts of the ground.

The Windies batsmen did not hold themselves back, and went after the bowling with spirit and disdain. India also did some favors to the opposition by dropping two catches and putting up a lackluster performance on the field.

This was a fearless display by a young bunch of talented West Indians. Beating India at home is a gargantuan task, but Kieron Pollard's men made it look fairly simple in the end.

On that note, let us look at three reasons why the West Indies triumphed over India in the second T20I.

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#3 The reprieves to Simmons and Lewis

Evin Lewis

Lendl Simmons was on 6 when he skied a Bhuvneshwar Kumar delivery into the night sky. Washington Sundar got underneath it, but put down a straightforward chance. Simmons went on make 67* off just 45 balls, smashing the Indian bowlers to all parts of the ground.

That was not all though. In the very same over, Evin Lewis got an edge that flew to Rishabh Pant behind the stumps. The young keeper dived to his left, but as he hit the ground, the ball bounced off his hands.

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Lewis was on 16 at that time, and he went on to make 40 runs. The opening partnership between Simmons and Lewis was 73, and it was the start they provided that allowed the other batsmen coming in after them to carry on and finish the game off for the team.

If those two chances had been grabbed, the story might have been different.

#2 The cameo by Nicholas Pooran

Nicholas Pooran

When skipper Virat Kohli took a blinder of a catch to dismiss a rampaging Shimron Hetmyer, the required rate for the West Indies was 9.51 runs an over. If India had managed another breakthrough at that point, things might have well gone down to the wire.

But Nicholas Pooran had another plans.

The talented left-hander pulverized the Indian bowling attack, scoring 38 off just 18 balls. He played at a strike rate of 211.11, smashing 4 fours and 2 sixes in his blazing cameo.

Pooran's innings ensured that India had no way of coming back into the game, and the West Indies romped home by 8 wickets with 9 balls to spare. Pooran put on 61 runs off just 29 balls along with Simmons, turning the match overwhelmingly in favour of his side.

#1 Kesrick Williams’ bowling spell

In the second T20, Williams had the last laugh against Kohli

In the first T20I, Kesrick Williams was carted all around the park by the Indian batsmen, particularly by Virat Kohli. The right-arm pacer was smashed for 60 runs off just 3.4 overs, conceding a whopping 16.36 runs per over.

He had also got a taste of his own medicine as Kohli pulled out Williams’ trademark ‘notebook’ celebration after walloping him over mid-wicket for a six.

But in the second T20, Williams had the last laugh. He bowled a well-disguised slower delivery to the Indian skipper, and all Kohli could do was edge it to third man. Williams put his finger on his lips this time as Kohli walked back to the pavilion.

He also took the wicket of Ravindra Jadeja in the death overs with another well-disguised slower delivery, to finish with impressive figures of 2/30 in his four overs.