India had to face a five-wicket defeat to the West Indies in the second T20I of the ongoing series in St. Kitts and Nevin on Tuesday (August 2) morning. In a match that was heavily delayed due to a delay in the arrival of luggage, India were bowled out on merely 138 after batting first.
Although the bowlers did well to keep the West Indies batter at bay, the Men in Blue eventually conceded defeat in the final over. Starring for the West Indies was Obed McCoy with a brilliant six-wicket haul before opener Brandon King scored a valiant 68 to take their side to the victory.
But the match may have gone in India's favour if not for a judgement call from skipper Rohit Sharma. Arshdeep Singh had bowled the penultimate over, conceding just six runs and also taking the important wicket of Rovman Powell. While most fans expected Rohit to go to veteran Bhuvneshwar Kumar for the final over of the match, the India captain threw a surprise as he put his faith in an inexperienced Avesh.
However, Avesh bowled a no-ball first up and then conceded a six off the first legitimate ball of the over. The match ended the very next delivery as Dean Thomas smashed a back-of-a-length delivery from the Indian youngster for a four. After the game, Rohit revealed the reason behind not opting to go with more experienced Bhuvneshwar in the final over.
“We know what Bhuvi does for us; he has been doing it for years. Unless you give chances to guys like Avesh and Arshdeep you'll never know,” Rohit said.
“But it is just one game. They have the skills and the talent and it is all about backing them. I am really proud of the bowlers and the team. Targets such as these can get over in 13-14 overs but we dragged it to the last over. I thought the guys executed the plans and really happy with the way the guys bowled,” the Indian captain further said.
Bhuvneshwar conceded 12 runs off his 2 overs but Avesh was the more expensive of the pacers, conceding 31 runs in 2.2 overs; His major plus from the game was the important wicket of Brandon King.
