India suffered a six-wicket defeat to the West Indies in the second T20I of the five-match series at the JSCA Complex in Ranchi on Friday, October 9.
Delving into the details of the second T20I, India batted first and posted 249/5 in 20 overs. Sanju Samson (82) and Tilak Varma (44) were the top scorers. In response, West Indies sealed the deal in just 18.3 overs with six wickets in hand. Shai Hope (102*) and Sherfane Rutherford (84) were exceptional with the bat as they levelled the series 1-1.
On that note, let’s take a look at who said what after INDvWI, 2nd T20I.
Shai Hope, West Indies captain and player of the match:
[Thoughts at 5 for 2?] That it’s going to be a tough chase, but once you chase here in India, you always give yourself a challenge. You always think you’re in the game, regardless of what score is on the board, but 5 for 2 is always going to be challenging. [On the belief?] We got that partnership there with myself and Rovman. We just got some more impetus into the innings. And then obviously Sherfane came and did what he did. [On partnership with Rutherford] The thing about cricket, I really believe that we need to bat a lot better in partnerships. It’s something that we tend to lapse every now and again. But sometimes you’ve just got to sit back and watch. Watch him play his shots. In that situation there, as long as we kept going at the rate to keep up with the game, then I didn’t need to take any unnecessary risks. I thought that we would go really nicely. So just about calculating that chase as best as we could on the back end.
[What about Roston Chase today?] Yeah, amazing. On a surface and a field like this, to go out six runs and over is unbelievable. So he really kept us in the game. It was very difficult conditions to bowl on, so the way he bowled and kept us in the game made it a lot easier for us to chase that score. [On hitting sixes] I just want to say those SS bats that I have are pretty good. But yeah, the balls seem to be travelling quite a bit here. Yes, the boundaries are a little bit bigger on the bigger side, but I just got to bat myself. Once the ball is in my zone, look at the best option to get the boundary. It just came off well today. As I said before, you’ve got to get some luck going your way, and today was one of those days for me.
Shreyas Iyer, Indian captain:
[What’s a safe score] You cannot put a number to it. When the dew factor comes in, it plays a massive role. You cannot give a number. The margin of error on this wicket was very minor. Any minor error was going into the stands. Few missed chances, but that is part of the game. But credit where due, they batted very well. [On Mayank and Samson] Both were phenomenal. This is what we look for in Sanju and Abhishek. Exceptional from them and also Mayank. Those three crucial wickets stabilized things for us.
