West Indies vs India 2019: Indian Pacers Dismantle West Indies Top-order

India have been playing against West Indies in their first series after the ICC World Cup 2019. The West Indies vs India 2019 series which comprised of three Twenty20 Internationals, as many One Day Internationals and two Tests has started in a dramatic manner at Lauderhill, Florida where the first T20I is taking place. India won the toss and opted to field first where the pacers dismantle Windies top-order.

It was youngster Washington Sundar who provided the first breakthrough by taking John Campbell in the very first over. He got down on his knees for a slog-sweep and connected well but unfortunately found Krunal Pandya at deep mid-wicket and he did the rest to send Campbell for a duck.

When the youngsters have been doing well, how could the experienced Bhuvneshwar Kumar be far behind? While conceding mere 2 runs, he picked up Evin Lewis in the second over. Lewis was deceived by Bhuvneshwar’s knuckle-ball which he missed the heave. That clipped his pad and hit the stumps and Lewis also fell for a duck.

Navdeep Saini, who made his International debut with the game, took only four balls to pick up his first international wicket in the fifth over. Although Nicholas Pooran hit a six in the second ball, he fell after two balls by giving a catch to Rishabh Pant for 20. The next ball was seen the dismissal of Shimron Hetmyer who was looking to steer it down but beaten by pace and didn’t get any room. He was bowled for a golden duck.

Another youngster Khaleel Ahmed also joined the party in the next over when he dismissed Powell. He hit Ahmed’s slower one and Pant took a good diving catch while coming forward. With his dismissal, West Indies reduced to 33-5 after the powerplay.

However, Kieron Pollard and Carlos Brathwaite tried their best to resurrect the innings by adding 34 runs. However, Krunal Pandya took a stunning return catch and dismissed Brathwaite for 9 in the 15th over. The following over was seen Ravindra Jadeja’s magic when he dismissed Sunil Narine for only 2 which left Windies struggling at 70 for 7 after 16 overs.

However, Indian bowlers didn’t take much time to pick up other players. While Bhuvneshwar Kumar dismissed Keemo Paul for mere 3 in the penultimate over, the debutant Navdeep Saini trapped Pollard before the stumps in the third ball of the final over and made his debut a dream debut. The final over ended as a maiden over and Saini ended up with a figure of 4-1-17-3.

Windies were able to put up 95 on board. However, this was the ninth time India restricted their opponent within 100 on board.