India vs West Indies 1st T20I: How Windies toppled Hardik and Co and other talking points

West Indies stunned Hardik Pandya-led India in the first T20I at the Brian Lara Stadium in Trinidad on Thursday. It was a new beginning for the new-look Men in Blue side, who had two T20I debutants in Tilak Varma and Mukesh Kumar, the former who was also playing his first international match for India. But, even Varma’s promising run with the bat was not enough as the Windies bowlers proved to be too good on the day to clinch a thriller by four runs and take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series. So where did India go wrong in the first T20I? We take a look in the talking points here: Windies bowlers take the pace off the ball On a Trinidad pitch that turned out to be slow as the match progressed, it was the West Indies’ bowlers who had the final say over the Indian batters. Jason Holder, Romario Shepherd and Obed McCoy all were clinical with their wicket-taking spells, but what worked out wonders for them was the way they took the pace off the ball. The way McCoy removed Axar Patel in the 19th over was a classic example of taking the pace off the ball. Axar was already under pressure with the wickets falling regularly for India, and on this occasion, he backed himself away to loft it down the ground. However, Axar was early in playing the shot and eventually ended up skying it to Shimron Hetmyer at midwicket. However, what possibly defined the outcome of the game was Jason Holder’s dismissal of Hardik Pandya. In the 16th over, India were still in command of the case needing 37 runs off 30 balls, but Jason Holder did the job for West Indies, providing a crucial breakthrough. Holder delivered an off-cutter to Hardik, which the India skipper probably did not anticipate and the batter was beaten on the inside edge looking to clip it down the leg side with the ball brushing his pad en route to dismantling the off-stumps. Safe to say, it was an unplayable delivery from Holder that took Hardik Pandya by surprise. Wasim Jaffer, former India batter, acknowledged the West Indian bowlers’ change of pace. “They understood that the pitch was a used one. When they batted, they must have felt it was not easy scoring runs, and this total was defendable, and taking the pace off was probably the best idea, and that’s what they did. Jason Holder does that really well, Romario Shepherd did that, Akeal Hosein is a very good left-arm spinner, Obed McCoy uses his change of pace really well,” Jaffer said on ESPNCricinfo. Tilak Varma shines with the bat On what was a difficult day for the Indian batters, it was debutant Tilak Varma who was the silver lining in the batting lineup. Tilak Varma, who earned popularity with his stint with Mumbai Indians (MI) in the IPL, displayed some aggressive batting, in some ways mirroring what he has done for MI in the past. He played a knock of 39 off 22 balls, amassing two fours and three sixes, and had he stayed at the crease for a bit longer, the youngster could have had a major say in the outcome of the match later on.

A promising debut for Tilak Varma. Departs after a strong knock!#INDvWIAdFreeonFanCode #WIvIND pic.twitter.com/oVIa56BPWv

— FanCode (@FanCode) August 3, 2023

Instead, Tilak fell victim to a slower delivery from Romario Shepherd. It was a short-length ball from Romario, and Tilak, playing for the pull eventually holed out to Shimron Hetmyer at deep backward square. Earlier, Tilak introduced himself to the international arena in the best way possible: A six over deep square leg off Alzarri Joseoh’s length ball. He repeated the result with a similar shot over deep square, only this time it was a much shorter ball from Joseph and Tilak had to play the pull to initiate this. Tilak then continued his onslaught against the West Indian bowlers, particularly picking Romario Shepherd. In the eight over, Tilak slammed back-to-back boundaries, punishing Shepherd. In the fourth ball of the over, Tilak got down on his knee to loft one over wide long off, and followed it up with a four, finding the gap between short third and point. Tilak showed glimpses of what he could do with the bat, but Arshdeep Singh felt that India should have had a set batter on Thursday in order to take them over the finish line. “I guess we needed one batter to stay till the end because in their last two over, five fielders were inside the 30 yard circle,” Arshdeep Singh told reporters after the match. “We will review the match. What we could have done better in the first innings. Where we could we have kept things tight and as a batting unit in the second innings where did we missed the finishing part,” he added. Pooran-Powell resistance Nicholas Pooran was coming off fresh from MI New York’s title-winning campaign at Major League Cricket, and he showcased his batting prowess yet again with his 34-ball 41. On a day when the pitch was dominated by bowlers largely, Pooran forged a 38-run stand with Rovman Powell, who showcased similar resistance to help West Indies post 149.

Pandya: Nicky :P

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.#INDvWIAdFreeonFanCode #WIvIND pic.twitter.com/voBvRALdc4

— FanCode (@FanCode) August 3, 2023

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Pooran continued getting the big shots, picking up from where he left off. In the last ball of the fifth over, Pooran slog swept over midwicket for a six, before amassing another maximum off Axar Patel in the next over. Pooran, however, was dismissed by Hardik in the 15th over, with Pooran holing out on a short ball to Tilak Varma in the deep. Powell, too, showcased similar aggressiveness with his batting. He connected a slower ball from Hardik pretty well to dispatch it over midwicket for a maximum in the 15th over, before punishing Chahal for another six by going down the ground, hitting straight of long-on. In the end, however, Powell failed to score a fifty, falling just short of it, courtesy of a short ball from Arshdeep that forced Powell to pull towards Suryakumar Yadav at long-on. Had it not been for Pooran and Powell, the West Indies would have found the going tough on Thursday. Afterall, the duo’s knocks were what set the platform for West Indies to defend a tricky total on a tricky pitch.