Rain stops India’s chase in second T20

This was the highest ever T20 global score against India by any team, surpassing the 219 for 4 by South Africa in Johannesburg in March 2012.Rookie opener Evin Lewis, playing in his only second T20 worldwide, hit 100 (49 balls; 5×4, 9×6) and shared 126 runs for the first wicket from a mere 9.3 overs with Johnson Charles.

India were chasing 144 for victory.

Toss: Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the India captain, won the toss and opted to field in the second Twenty20 global between West Indies and India in Lauderhill, Florida on Sunday (August 28).

He shared a 107-run partnership with Dhoni.

248 Runs scored in the first ten overs by both teams in the match – West Indies scored 132 to India’s 116.

US witnessed West Indies batting charisma as openers Johnson Charles (79) and Evin Lewis (100) hammered Indian bowlers all-round the park to post massive 245 runs for the loss of six wickets.

The 24-year-old Lewis, whose only other appearance had ended with a duck in the shock defeat to Afghanistan at the World T20 this year, feasted on ideal batting conditions at the Florida venue.

Charles racked up seven maximums and six fours in his 33-ball blitz, but was outdone by Lewis, with five of his nine sixes conceded by Stuart Binny (0-32) in a devastating 11th over.

It was the fifth fastest T20I century. Twenty-one of those sixes were from the West Indian batsmen, which equals the most in any T20 innings: Royal Challengers Bangalore also hit 21 in the IPL game against Pune Warriors when Chris Gayle scored 175.

The Indian bowlers had no answer to the onslaught launched by the West Indians with Charles being the more aggressive of the two. When it mattered, Samuels caught Dhoni as West Indies captured famous win.

West Indies’ skipper Carlos Brathwaite had a different view stating some areas of the ground were “unsafe”.

Andre Russell and Kieron Pollard contributed 22 runs each.

Openers Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane were at the crease at that time.

India’s star batsman Virat Kohli has maintained his number one position in the ICC T20 batsmen rankings, while off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin returned to the top five in the bowlers’ list, climbing up to fourth spot from seventh. “The ground itself is up to the worldwide standard, the wicket was good, you can’t score 500 runs on a bad wicket, so a fantastic wicket”.

The Caribbeans reached to their 50 in just 4.1 overs and the Indians were left to bring in Ashwin into the attack in the sixth over.

Dhoni joined Rahul and they took the score past 200 in the 17th over before they fell just short of their target.