India 190 for 6 (Rohit 64, Karthik 41*, Joseph 2-46) beat West Indies 122 for 8 (Brooks 20, Ashwin 2-22, Arshdeep 2-24, Bishnoi 2-26) by 68 runs
In T20s before Friday at this ground, spinners had an economy rate of 6.31, which is the fourth-lowest among all the venues in West Indies. They averaged 20.91 – again the fourth-lowest at any Caribbean venue where spinners have bowled in more than ten innings.
Another partner for Rohit
However Akeal Hosein’s introduction had Suryakumar stalling. He was dropped off the first ball from the spinner before a top edge on the very next ball saw it evade the bowler running back. However, Hosein had the last laugh in the next over after Suryakumar’s attempted whip resulted in a thick leading edge to short third.
Change in pace leads to change of momentum
India had raced to 44 inside five overs but Suryakumar’s wicket slowed down the proceedings. Despite finding a couple of boundaries early on, Rohit struggled to get the ball away. With the odd ball gripping the surface, Hosein and McCoy used that to their advantage with the latter dismissing Shreyas Iyer for a four-ball duck.
While Rohit got his eye in, Rishabh Pant threw his hands around to get a couple of fours. Their partnership of 43 off just 25 balls helped Rohit free himself up. But then India lost Pant and Hardik Pandya – who ramped a Joseph short ball straight to deep third for his maiden T20I wicket – in quick succession to find themselves at 102 for 4 with over eight overs left.
The perfect finish
In the interim Rohit got to his 27th half-century in T20Is off 35 balls. Just when he started accelerating, he slapped Holder straight to sweeper cover. At 131 for 5 in 15 overs on a track slowing down, India looked on course to finish around the 170-run mark.
But Karthik once again aced in his designated finisher’s role to help India get close to 200. He used the crease well to put the bowlers off their lines and lengths. In the company of Ashwin, he took a toll on the erring Holder and McCoy to help India amass 36 off the last two overs.
Spin to win
In their pursuit of 191, Kyle Mayers got West Indies off to a rapid start, helping them score 11 off Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s first over and as many in the first three balls of Arshdeep Singh’s over. However, Arshdeep managed to deceive Mayers with an off-pace short ball to crash-land the chase.
Holder, sent in at No. 3 couldn’t see off Ravindra Jadeja’s spin while Ashwin managed to see the back of the left-handers in Nicholas Pooran and Shimron Hetmyer. Ravi Bishnoi then dismissed Rovman Powell and Odean Smith in successive overs to pretty much seal the game.
S Sudarshanan is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo