Related Link : India’s Tour of West Indies 2011 : West Indies Vs India, Only T20I at Port of Spain
India’s West Indies tour started on a decent note with the visitors winning the Only Twenty20 International at the Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain by 16 runs. On a sluggish damp pitch, India successfully defended a total of 159 which was a little too much for the unsung West Indian line up.
India Innings
The toss was won by Darren Sammy who asked India to bat first under overcast conditions. Despite a bit of drizzle, the match went ahead without any interruptions. Three players – Parthiv Patel, Shikhar Dhawan and S Badrinath made their Debut in T20Is. India had a dull start with Shikhar Dhawan falling in the 3rd over edging a rising delivery from Sammy to the keeper. There was a 35-run stand for the 2nd wicket from Virat Kohli (14 from 12 balls) with Parthiv before the former got a leading edge in an attempted pick up shot in the 7th over. Just a ball later, Sammy found himself on a hat-trick when Parthiv Patel (26 from 20 balls with a four and a pull shot for a six) sliced his square drive off a slower one straight into the hands of backward point. Sammy didn’t get his hat-trick but he claimed the wicket of his counterpart Suresh Raina (2) who tamely chipped him straight to mid on to leave India at 56 for 4 in the 9th over.
Though the pitch was quite difficult to score quickly, debutant S Badrinath and Rohit Sharma got together to come up with a busy partnership which bailed the visitors out of trouble. The right handed duo added 71 runs before Rohit Sharma (26 from 23 balls with two sixes) looking to slog over mid wicket got bowled by the part timer medium pacer Christopher Barnwell in the 18th over. Three balls later, Badrinath’s stay came to an end when he charged down the track to a well flighted leg break from Devendra Bishoo but only to edge him behind to the keeper who also had the chance of an easy stumping. Badrinath was lucky that he was caught in the 16th over off a noball bowled by Rampaul.
India finished its innings on a high at 159 for 6 with Yusuf Pathan (15* from 6 balls with 2 sixes) and Harbhajan Singh providing a few lusty blows. West Indies’ hero with the ball was their Skipper Darren Sammy who conceded only 16 runs besides taking four wickets in as many overs.
West Indies Innings
It was a good start for the visitors with Praveen Kumar bowling a maiden in the first over. The West Indian chase wasn’t going nowhere. In the 4th over, the first wicket fell down in the form of Lendl Simmons (9) who was wrongly given caught bat pad off Ashwin. His fellow opener Andre Fletcher got cleaned up by a Munaf Patel yorker just three balls later to have West Indies at 22 for 2.
West Indies then had a solid partnership from Darren Bravo and Marlon Samuels but the duo couldn’t come up with the big shots that were the need of the hour. Both these batsmen fell to Harbhajan Singh in the 16th over with West Indies just at 92 for 4. First it was Marlon Samuels (27 from 29 balls) who got caught behind off a top edged slog sweep and then the left handed Darren Bravo (41 from 41 balls) dragged his sweep onto the stumps off an inside edge.
West Indies managed to bring down the inevitable defeat down to a margin of 16 runs thanks to the lusty hitting from Christopher Barnwell who struck an unbeaten 34 from 16 balls with 2 fours and 3 sixes. Badrinath picked up the Man of the Match for his batting efforts.