Pollard's Men Blow Away India, Take Series To The Decider

Simmons, Pooran and bowlers deliver in a crunch game for the visitors; Dube, Pant come good for the Men in Blue

- P.K. Ajith Kumar

It was the World T20 champion West Indies that turned up at the Greenfield Stadium on Sunday night. Not the side that has been playing plenty of insipid white ball cricket of late.

Kieron Pollard’s men proved too good for India in front of a full house in the second T20I. They won by eight wickets with nine balls to spare.

They not just ended their losing streak to India in the shortest format, but also ensured that the third match of the series in Mumbai would be the deciding one.

The visitors’ confident chase of a challenging total was anchored by Lendl Simmons, who remained unbeaten on 67 (45b). His first wicket stand of 73 with Evin Lewis (40, 35b) gave them the perfect start, and his 61run partnership for the unbroken third wicket with Nicholas Pooran, who played an eye-catching cameo (38 not out, 18b), gave them the perfect finish.

Brilliant catch

Shimron Hetmyer, too, delighted with his strokeplay before his promising knock was ended by a brilliant running catch by India captain Virat Kohli at long-on. That sensational bit of fielding wasn’t the norm, but an exception for India.

In the fifth over, Washington Sundar had dropped Simmons off Bhuvneshwar Kumar at mid-off and that would prove costly. The off-spinning all-rounder from Chennai was having a horrid time on the field for the second match in a row.

He redeemed himself a bit by beating Lewis and having him stumped, but that wasn’t enough to stop the aggressive Windies top-order from racing to the target.