West Indies leveled the three match T20 series 1-1 in Thiravananthapuram on Sunday that makes it all to play for in the series decider at Wankhede stadium in Mumbai. The visitors won the game easily by 8 wickets and 9 balls to spare.
Earlier in the game, West Indies won the toss and elected to bowl first on a batsman friendly wicket that got better as the game progressed. KL Rahul impressed in the last game but it was not to be in the 2nd T20 as he got perished cheaply on 11. Hard hitting Shivam Dube was promoted up the order with Rohit Sharma to take the innings forward but the vice captain didn’t looked in great touch and was bowled by Jason Holden on 15.
Shivam Dube failed to time the ball at the start but he later took the charge and dispatched the bowlers for some blows out of the ground. He completed his half century but didn’t got the support from the other end. After his dismissal, India lost the way in the innings as Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja could not provide the final flourish that was needed to complete the par score. India scored 170/7 at the end of 20 overs.
West Indies got off to a steady start upfront as Ewin Lewis and Lendl Simmons added 73 runs for the first wicket to put West Indies on the drivers seat. Rishabh Pant dropped the catch of Ewin Lewis in the 5th over that proved way too costly, as the visitors build a solid foundation at the start that won them the game easily.
Fans chant the name of MS Dhoni after Pant drops a catch
It can be a tough job to be Rishabh Pant at the moment as he is replacing the veteran MS Dhoni. His bad performance with the bat or as a wicketkeeper gets the crowd to chant the name of MS Dhoni on numerous occasion.
Same incident happened in Trivandrum when the crowd started chanting the name of Dhoni after he dropped a catch of Lewis. Virat Kohli called on for the crowd to be a little patient with Pant in the post match press conference.
“We certainly believe in Rishabh’s ability. But I think it’s a collective responsibility of everyone around as well to give that player some space to do well. If he misses a chance, people can’t shout MS’ (Dhoni) name in the stadium as well.
“It’s not respectful because no player would like that to happen. You are playing in your own country and you should get support rather than always thinking what mistake this guy is gonna make. No one wants to be in that position,” Kohli said.
