rohit: 1st T20I: Rohit half-century, Karthik cameo take India to 190 for 6 vs Windies

Rohit Sharma was in his element while Dinesh Karthik provided the final flourish as India posted 190 for six against West Indies in the first T20 International on Friday.

The Indian captain, who has endured a barren spell in the shortest format since the IPL, has changed his game since the England T20, providing a glimpse of his old self with some breathtaking shots on the way to 64 off 44 balls. is of.

The team’s designated finisher Karthik justified his billing with Ravichandran Ashwin (13 not out) scoring 52 runs in the last four overs in the seventh-wicket stand with an unbeaten 19-ball 41.

On a track where there was slow spongy bounce, most of the top-order batsmen got out playing poor shots, even as the captain worked his way up the other end for his 27th half-century in the format.

In the process, he regained his position as the highest run-scorer in T20Is (3443 runs) from Martin Guptill (3399 runs).

His innings included seven fours and two sixes—a high shot off Jason Holder and a short-arm pull off Alazari Joseph.

There were some captivating boundaries as well – a back-cut, a cover drive and a deliberate glide at short third-man to lure a large Indian crowd present at the Brian Lara Stadium.

After being put into bat, Suryakumar Yadav’s rise in the top order showed that coach Rahul Dravid is still looking for other options as Rohit’s opening partner, while Rishabh Pant seems comfortable as an opener. .

To be fair, Sun didn’t do all that badly and he showed intent during his 16-ball 24, which included a breathtaking six – a swivel of the hips to send a rising delivery past the square – of three boundaries. Apart from

But, trying to hit left-arm spinner Akeel Hossein through mid-wicket, Suriya took a thick outside edge for short third man.

A lot of credit should go to Hossein, who was brought in well inside the powerplay and did a splendid job with figures of 1 for 14 including 14 dot balls.

It was Hossein who didn’t let Rohit get out during that phase, while Shreyas Iyer (0), Pant (14 off 12 balls) and Hardik Pandya (1) didn’t score too many runs at the other end.

It was left to the eternal “20-ball man” Karthik, who smashed four boundaries and two sixes in a 360-degree display of shot-making.

Originally published at Pen 18