India vs West Indies 1st T20I Highlights 2023, Thursday 3-8-2023. India tour of West Indies 2023, Brian Lara Stadium, Tarouba, Trinidad.
Powell calls his side “boundary-hitters”, and says they are playing six batters and two allrounders. Pandya, meanwhile, says the plan was this tour was to play a team while looking ahead to next year’s T20 World Cup. Thus, he is ready to embrace failures during this journey.
Toss: West Indies chose to bat.
India team: 1 Shubman Gill, 2 Ishan Kishan, 3 Suryakumar Yadav, 4 Tilak Varma, 5 Hardik Pandya (capt), 6 Sanju Samson, 7 Axar Patel, 8 Kuldeep Yadav, 9 Yuzvendra Chahal, 10 Arshdeep Singh, 11 Mukesh Kumar
West Indies team: 1 Brandon King, 2 Kyle Mayers, 3 Johnson Charles (wk), 4 Nicholas Pooran, 5 Shimron Hetmyer, 6 Rovman Powell (capt), 7 Jason Holder, 8 Romario Shepherd, 9 Akeal Hosein, 10 Alzarri Joseph, 11 Obed McCoy
Head to Head In T20I’s: 24
India Won: 17
West Indies Won: 7
India T20I Rankings: 1st
West Indies T20I Rankings: 7th
Form guide
(last five completed T20I’s, most recent first)
India WWLWL
West Indies WLWLW
Match Timings: 2:30 PM GMT | 10:30 AM Local
Umpires – Gregory Brathwaite, Patrick Gustard
TV Umpire – Nigel Duguid
Match Referee – Richie Richardson
Reserve Umpire – Leslie Reifer
Match number – T20I no. 2188
Hardik Pandya:
“We were right in the chase. We made some errors which cost us, but it is fine. A young team will make mistakes. Throughout the game, we were in control. I have always believed that in T20 cricket, if you lose wickets, it becomes difficult to chase down a total. When we lost a couple of wickets [in a row]… it cost us. The bowling combination [of three spinners] was down to the conditions. We wanted Yuzi and Kuldeep to play together, and Axar brings batting. For Mukesh to have these two weeks and make his debut was fantastic. Very pleasing to see the way Tilak started his innings.”
Rovman Powell:
“It’s a very good feeling. We talked about starting the series on a positive note, and we did that today… After watching the Indians bowl, I was thinking if we were a spinner short. But the fast bowlers bowled into the wicket. It was difficult to bat, it was always going to be a good powerplay and a slowdown in the middle. This series will be decided how the West Indian batters play spin in the middle overs… it makes the left-hand batters very important. All the overs that Holder bowled were fantastic. At the interval, he told us to [take] pace off.”
Jason Holder is the Player of the Match:
“The amount of cricket I have been playing for the last three years is a lot. So the break [from ODIs] was well needed… We made them work hard for their runs. I guess the double-wicket maiden was a turning point. The conditions dictated our total. Pleased with the guys. With the quality side that India is, you always think they will chase that… We always wanted early wickets, and put the pressure back on them.”
Pitch and weather: The Brian Lara Cricket Academy has hosted just one T20I so far, in 2022, when India piled up 190 for 6, and then defended it with considerable ease against West Indies. The Tarouba pitch is usually friendly to batters, but a used one could offer more assistance to the bowlers. The forecast for Thursday isn’t particularly promising, with a 40% chance of rain.
