Pooran fifty pushes Windies to fighting 157/7 against India in first T20I

By PTI

KOLKATA: On a high after his hefty IPL buyout, wicketkeeper-batter Nicholas Pooran returned to form a with a brisk 63 as West Indies recovered from a mid-innings slump to post a fighting 157 for seven against India in the first T20I here on Wednesday.

The left-hander, who clinched a fat paycheck of Rs 10.75 crore from Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL mega auction, got back to rhythm in style, scoring his runs in 43 balls with five sixes and four boundaries.

The Windies No. 3, who endured an abysmal last IPL with 85 runs at a poor average of 7.72 and had scores of 18, 9 and 34 in the preceding three ODIs, made his intention clear by smashing Bhuvneshwar Kumar for a big six early on.

The Indian spin duo of Yuzvendra Chahal and debutant legs-pinner Ravi Bishnoi derailed the Windies in the middle overs by taking three wickets in between them, but Pooran held on as the visitors unleashed their fury in the death by scoring 61 runs in the the last five overs.

A fit-again Kieron Pollard, who missed the last two matches in the ODI series, played a cameo (24 not out from 19 balls) with two fours and one six.

Jodhpur’s googly man Bishnoi made his debut memorable as he returned tidy figures of 4-0-17-2, including the wickets of Roston Chase (4) and Rovman Powell (2) in a space of four balls to derail the Windies in the middle overs.

Bhuvneshwar got his swing going up front and dismissed Brandon King (4) in the first over after the batter had failed to negotiate the outswingers.

Kyle Mayers and Pooran steadied the innings before the wicketkeeper broke the shackles with a big six against Bhuvneshwar.

Mayers also stepped it up against the likes of Chahar and Harshal Patel as the Windies enjoyed a decent powerplay, reaching 44/1 in six overs.

Rohit was quick to bring in his most experienced spinner in the lineup, Chahal, immediately after the powerplay and almost had the dangerous-looking Pooran first ball.

But the debutant Bishnoi made an error of judgment while going for the catch, stepping on the rope to give Pooran a reprieve on 8.

Chahal, however, got the much-needed breakthrough when he trapped the well-set Mayers, who reviewed the decision but to no avail.

Then the debutant from Jodhpur had the Windies caught in his spin web, before Pooran an Pollard propped them up.