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Apoorv Dwivedi
Rishabh Pant showed that he is a force to reckon with on any given day. He hammered his way to a 28 ball 52 and guided his team to a total of 186 in 20 overs. Venkatesh Iyer played the supporting role with an 18 ball 33.
Earlier in the day, it wasn’t an ideal start for India. Sheldon Cotrell exposed Ishan Kishan’s vulnerability to away swinging deliveries. Kishan had no footwork and threw his bat on the ball. Three swings and a miss but he wasn’t lucky enough to escape on the fifth ball as he edged one to Kyle Mayers at the point.
Virat Kohli displayed his class later on as he dealt only with boundaries. Romano Shepherd was hit for 3 boundaries in a single over. He moved to his fifty quickly before being removed
by Roston Chase.
Roston Chase was the only bowler who looked in control and returned with the figures of 3-25. Pant took no prisoners and smashed bowlers all over the Eden Gardens of Kolkata.
Batting second West Indies did not begin the way it had imagined. Brandon King fell cheaply, he had dropped Rohit Sharma and misfielded on his shot in the same over. Rovman Powell struck a beautiful 68 with 4 fours and 5 sixes.
Nicholas Pooran showed why he was auctioned for a heavy price as he raced to another fifty with the help of 5 fours and 3 sixes, he ended his innings on 62. Deepak Chahar is not having a great series with the ball as he has taken only 1 wicket in the last two matches.
Despite a good batting performance all West Indies could salvage was 174, thanks to a decent last over by Harshal Patel.
This gives India a series Clinching lead of 2-0 in the three-match series.
Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant have been granted a bio-bubble break by BCCI and they will not participate in the third match. Both are likely to be rested for the Sri Lanka T20I series. West Indies which lost to Ireland last month and edged past England in a closely contested series had nothing to play for but pride. With the last match of the tour being played tomorrow in Kolkata. All eyes will be on Pollard and co, how will they respond.