Members of the victorious West Indies team share a photo opportunity with their trophy after a nine-wicket win over India at Sabina Park yesterday.
It was expected to be the Chris Gayle Twenty20 show for West Indies on his return yesterday, but Evin Lewis had other ideas.
Despite the Jamaican being a mere bystander to Lewis, the fans inside the half-filled Sabina Park were definitely not too disappointed, as the Trinidadian scored a delightful century in setting up an emphatic nine-wicket win.
Lewis’s 125 not out — the highest by a West Indian in T20 international — propelled the regional side to 194-1, surpassing the 190-6 posted by India with nine balls to spare in the one-off Finolex Pipes contest.
Scores: India 190-6 (20 overs); West Indies 194-1 (18.3 overs).
The milestone was Lewis’s second century against India in less than a year, following an even 100 last year in another high-scoring game in Fort Lauderdale. In the process, he also achieved the feat of becoming the third player to score two T20 international centuries, joining Gayle and New Zealander Brendan McCallum.
the 25-year-old Lewis and Gayle now evenly share the top six T20 international score by West Indies batsmen.
His 125 off 62 balls, which includes six fours and 12 sixes one of which completed the victory yesterday — headlines the list, with his other scores being 100 and 91; while Gayle has scores of 117, 100 not out and 98.
Chasing a victory target of 191, the two left-handers gave West Indies a slow but steady start, and with both being notorious for their big-hitting reputation, it was only a matter of time before they exploded.
And they didn’t have to wait too long as Lewis hit back-to-back sixes off spinner Ravichandran Ashwin in the fifth over and off seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the sixth over.
But his exploits were not without near misses, as he was dropped in that same over on 47 by Mohammed Shami, and again in the seventh over by Dinesh Karthik while on 55. Prior to that, he brought up his fastest half-century in 24 deliveries.
Meanwhile, Gayle, at the other end, opted to play a patient innings and only mustered one six and a four in his knock of 18, before being caught by wicketkeeper MS Dhoni while attempting a big hit off spinner Kuldeep Yadav.
The proverbial “Global Boss” lost his wicket with the score at 82-1, making way for compatriot Marlon “Icon” Samuels, who joined Lewis in the middle and the two steered West Indies home.
Samuels contributed an unbeaten 36 from 29 balls, including five fours and one six, in the match-winning second- wicket stand of 112, which came off a mere 61 deliveries.
Earlier, it was a measure of India’s aggression when they got off to a flying start, hitting 13 boundaries in the Power play — their best-ever start against the West Indies as the bowlers struggled to find their line early.
This was evident by the fact that West Indies front-line spinner Samuel Badree bowled his most expensive first over in T20Is, going for 13 runs against his previous highest of nine.
The opening pair of Captain Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan scored freely and quickly raced to 32 off the first three overs.
When Kohli drove a goodish delivery from Captain Carlos Brathwaite through the covers, it proved just how well the ball was coming on to the bat evident on what was a very flat pitch.
However, they suffered a double blow in the sixth over and their 64-run opening stand came to an end when Kesrick Williams had Kohli caught by Sunil Narine at mid-on for 39. His aggressive innings includes seven boundaries and one six.
Dhawan went via the run out route from some brilliant fielding by Williams off the very next delivery after a mix-up with new batsman Rishabh Pant.
Despite losing two wickets in quick succession, India continued to score at a steady rate and a 59-ball, third-wicket stand of 86 between Pant and Dinesh Karthik further frustrated the West Indies bowling attack.
Karthik, who seemed set for a half-century in his first T20 international since 2010, fell two runs short with a top score of 48 after being bowled by Samuels.
There commenced the West Indies fightback, as Jerome Taylor removed M S Dhoni (two) and Pant (38) with successive deliveries in the same over and just missed out on a hat-trick.
Williams returned to account for Kedar Jadhav (four), but went for 18 in his last over as Ashwin (11 not out) and Ravindra Jadeja (13 not out) ensured no further loss of wickets.