Fort Lauderdale, USA – India defeated the world champions West Indies by four wickets in the first match of the MyTeam11 series at the Central Broward Regional Park in Fort Lauderdale, America.
The Indian bowlers were brilliant on the day as they restricted the West Indies to 95 for nine off 20 overs and although their batting stuttered they came home at 96 for six to win by four wickets with 16 balls to spare.
The target of 96 runs was never going to be enough to trouble the powerful Indians and although wickets fell at regular intervals in their innings, there was never a feeling that the West Indies were ever in control at any time. Apart from off-spinner Sunil Narine (2/14 off our overs), Sheldon Cottrell 2/20 and Keemo Paul 2/23, the rest of the team just didn’t look as they were really up for a fight under the Florida Sun.
West Indies looked like a team without a plan after being asked to take the first strike. John Campbell back on the team after missing out due to injury showed no care at the top of the order and he fell off the second ball of the match. His opening partner Evin Lewis also fell without scoring as the West Indies top order was dismantled before most fans could have maneuvered their way through the long lines on the outside.
Nicolas Pooran cracked two sixes to keep the handful of West Indies fans interested but it was all about India. The Indians used two left-arm spinners in their attack to counter the many southpaws on the West Indies team and it worked well.
Pollard used every ounce of his experience to negotiate the Indian attack and fell just one run short of his third half-century in this format for the West Indies. The big right-hander coming back into the team after a long absence faced 49 deliveries and struck four sixes and two fours.
He, however, lost the plot towards the end and could not score off the first three balls in the final over. In fact, the final over bowled by Navdeep Saini was a maiden that saw the fall of Pollard. It was the second time in history that this was happening with the first instance being the Pakistan versus Australia clash back in 2010 – when Mohammad Amir was the bowler on fire.
The teams return to the venue today at 10.30am for match number two
