The spectators at the Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba were witness to a sort of comedy of errors involving Yuzvendra Chahal and Mukesh Kumar during the first T20I encounter between India and West Indies on Thursday. Kuldeep Yadav was clean bowled by Romario Shepherd on the first ball of the 20th over and with 10 runs needed off 5 balls, Chahal came out to bat. He had already made it all the way to the pitch when he was called back and it looked like the team management wanted Mukesh Kumar to bat at No. 10. However, it was too late as Chahal had already entered the pitch and he was deemed to be the legal batter. India were not able to salvage the situation as they slumped to a four-run defeat.
West Indies stunned India by four runs to capture the opening Twenty20 International on Thursday as the tourists flopped in pursuit of a modest 150-run target.
Well-placed at 77-3 in the 11th over thanks to debutant Tilak Varma‘s top score of 39 and 21 from Suryakumar Yadav, India then lost six wickets for just 68 runs.
Yuzvendra Chahal walked out at No.10, but the Indian team wanted Mukesh Kumar. Chahal walked off and entered again as he took the field already#Yuzvendrachahal#INDvWI pic.twitter.com/8rWxh30ahh
— Md Nayab 786 (@mdNayabsk45) August 3, 2023
Shimron Hetmyer, playing international cricket for the first time in 12 months, starred in the field for the West Indies taking three catches and effecting the run-out of Arshdeep Singh in the final over to bring the low-scoring clash to a conclusion.
The 20-year-old Varma, who helped light up the IPL with 343 runs for the Mumbai Indians this season, hit three sixes in his 22-ball innings.
Two of his sixes came in the first three balls he faced from Alzarri Joseph.
His innings ended on the last ball of the 11th over when he was caught at fine leg by Hetmyer off pace bowler Romario Shepherd with the total at 77.
Ten runs earlier, Suryakumar had been the third wicket to fall, brilliantly caught by Hetmyer who dived to his left at short extra cover off the bowling of Jason Holder.
Skipper Hardik Pandya (19), Axar Patel (13), and Singh (12) all made useful contributions but struggled to force the pace on a slow pitch at the Brian Lara Stadium.
Holder was particularly impressive for the West Indies with figures of 2-19 from his four overs and was named man of the match.
(With AFP inputs)
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