Ewin Lewis did the early running with a spectacular 17-ball 40 but this was by no means a one-man show.
WI's Shimron Hetmyer during his 41-ball 56. Pic/PTI
Hyderabad: A powerhouse batting display sparked by the ebullience at the top of Ewin Lewis, allied with shoddy Indian bowling and fielding, set the foundation for a massive West Indies total in the first of three T20Is on Friday night.
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Upwards of 30,000 fans watched gob-smacked as the Caribbeans brought their 'A' game to the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, storming to 207 for five on being put in by Virat Kohli. Lewis did the early running with a spectacular 17-ball 40 but this was by no means a one-man show. Shimron Hetmyer blazed to his maiden T20I half-century, skipper Kieron Pollard weighed in with a muscular 37 and Jason Holder applied the finishing touches with a quick-fire 24 as India wilted under the pressure.
Uncharacteristically sloppy, India put down five catches of varying degrees of difficulty including three off successive deliveries in Deepak Chahar's penultimate over. The first signs that this could be an evening of domination of the bat came in the first over from Washington Sundar, when Lewis picked him up for a four and six off consecutive balls. Sundar's short length was mirrored by the rest of his colleagues as the batsmen hammered 15 sixes and 11 fours.
Chahar produced a beautiful outswinger to snare Lendl Simmons but thereafter the over-reliance on the short ball played right into West Indian hands. Lewis found an able ally in Brandon King during a second-wicket stand of 51.
Ravindra Jadeja applied the brakes somewhat during an unchanged spell of one for 30, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar was tidy on his comeback.
Yuzvendra dismissed Hetmyer and Pollard — who added 71 for the fourth wicket — in his final over, but Chahar had a night to forget. The fickleness of cricket manifested itself in figures of one for 56 from four overs, a far cry from his last international outing when he finished with six for seven in 3.2 overs against Bangladesh in Nagpur last month.
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