Lendl Simmons guided West Indies to an eight-wicket thumping of India in the second Twenty20 international in Thiruvananthapuram, setting up a series decider in Mumbai on Wednesday.
Simmons finished unbeaten on 67 from 45 balls, having received able support from Evin Lewis (40), Shimron Hetmyer (23) and the returning Nicholas Pooran (38 not out) as the Windies reached a target of 171 with nine deliveries unused.
Shivam Dube had earlier compiled a maiden half-century for the hosts, impressing with 54 from 30 balls after being surprisingly promoted to number three, yet Virat Kohli's men were ultimately overpowered as West Indies hit 12 sixes to India's five.
The tourists were 26 without loss after five overs, but they accelerated in devastating fashion thereafter to win with ease.
Captain Virat Kohli led from the front, hitting an unbeaten 94, as India overhauled West Indies' total of 207-5 with ease to record a six-wicket win in the Twenty20 series opener.
While not at his fluent best in the early stages, Kohli picked up the pace in the second half of India’s impressive run chase, rushing his side over the line with eight balls to spare in Hyderabad.
The right-hander was afforded time to get his eye in by the efforts of team-mate KL Rahul, who passed 1,000 runs in the format at international level during his knock of 62.
ST. JOHN’S, Antigua – Two West Indies Championship matches will be played at Jamaica’s Trelawny Stadium next year.
It will be the first time in 11 years that the ground will be staging four-day matches in the Championship, which begins on Thursday, January 9.
Cricket West Indies has scheduled the fifth-round match between Jamaica Scorpions and Leeward Islands Hurricanes from February 13 to 16 at the venue, along with the sixth-round match between the Scorpions and Guyana Jaguars from February 27 to March 1.
CWI director of cricket, Jimmy Adams, said the stadium is scheduled to stage a Twenty20 International in two years’ time and this was part of the process to get the ground in shape.
ST. JOHN’S, Antigua - Cricket West Indies (CWI) today announces a revised schedule for the West Indies Rising Stars U19 Tri-Series involving West Indies U19, England U19 and Sri Lanka U19. The matches will now commence one day earlier and will be played at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium and Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua from December 6 - 21.
The West Indies Rising Stars U19 Tri-Series sees the opening match now featuring the West Indies U19 take on England U19 on Friday, December 6 at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium from 9:00am.
The West Indies U19 Head Coach, Graeme West will be utilizing this series to ramp up preparations before the squad leaves the Caribbean in early January to participate in the ICC U19 World Cup in South Africa.
West Indies are slowly getting the band back together under a new management in the lead-up to their T20 World Cup defence next year. Chris Gayle is on a break, and Andre Russell is still not fit enough to play international cricket, but Lendl Simmons is back, as is Kieron Pollard, who is now in charge of both the T20I and ODI teams, and Dwayne Bravo has hinted at coming out of retirement.
Pollard began his tenure by leading West Indies to their first ODI series victory in five years, against Afghanistan, but then they lost the subsequent three-match T20I series. Here are some big questions that West Indies need to answer during their T20I series against India.
