IND vs WI first T20I: Shreyas makes it a cakewalk for India

Coming into the series opener, Shreyas Iyer was under some pressure, having not scored a half-century in his last 10 T20I appearances. All that changed on Tuesday as the Indian skipper slammed a sensational maiden T20I century, an unbeaten 102 (43b, 10×4, 6×6), to power the Men in Blue to a thumping eight-wicket win over the West Indies at the Ekana Stadium here.

Chasing 172, India found itself in trouble at 35 for two after losing openers Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson cheaply.

With the match finely poised, Shreyas took charge in the final over of the PowerPlay, smashing Shamar Joseph for a hat-trick of boundaries to signal his intentions.

The Mumbai batter’s strength has always been his ability to find boundaries while playing orthodox shots. He unsettled the West Indies bowlers by shuffling in the crease to access acute angles.

In the ninth over, he did that repeatedly to Romario Shepherd, lofting the medium-pacer over covers for three back-to-back hits to the fence. At the other end, Ishan Kishan chipped in with a few boundaries, but he only had to put his captain back on strike, which he duly did.

Once he got past his half-century, which came off 28 balls, Shreyas cut loose, taking just 15 deliveries for the next 52 runs. Against Akeal Hosein, he backed away and lofted the left-arm spinner for a six and four over cover.

In the 14th over, Shreyas plundered 23 off Matthew Forde, including three maximums. The skipper deposited Roston Chase down the ground to bring up his ton and then sealed the win with 5.2 overs to spare.

Spinners excel

Earlier, the Indian tweakers led by debutant Naman Dhir (three for 31) wreaked havoc through the middle phase of the innings, scalping seven wickets to bundle West Indies out for 171.

Naman Dhir, right, struck vital blows on his debut.
| Photo Credit:
SHASHI SHEKHAR KASHYAP

For Windies, Shai Hope and Sherfane Rutherford did the heavy lifting, scoring fighting half-centuries.

While Hope got the team off to a strong start, the host pulled it back in the final over of the PowerPlay when Axar Patel (two for 26) bowled a maiden which included the wicket of Rovman Powell after the run-out of Shimron Hetmyer.

From 44 for three, Hope and Rutherford consolidated through a 63-run fourth-wicket stand. Dhir and Kuldeep (two for 33) then ran through the middle-order as the visitor slumped from 107 for three to 135 for eight.

Rutherford, though, got his team to a respectable total, punishing some poor bowling from the Indian quicks in the death overs, but against a rampaging Shreyas it was too little.