Picture Credit : BCCI/ICC
Suryakumar Yadav won the toss in the middle and opted to bowl first in a must win Super 8 clash against the West Indies at the Eden Gardens. The Indian dugout wouldn't be very happy with their performance in the first six overs as they failed to pick up a single wicket in the powerplay.
This is only the second time when the Men in Blue have remained empty-handed in the first six over at the T20 World Cup. Despite having some of the biggest stars in world cricket, India have failed to capitalise with the new ball dynamics as the Windies got off to a perfect start. The Indian bowlers failed to get any wickets because there wasn't much movement.
A lack of swing and seam have turned out to be beneficial for the West Indies’ batting order. Arshdeep Singh began the proceedings for India and kept the batters under check. He bowled three dot balls and gave away just three runs in the first over. Hardik Pandya came in to bowl the second over and that is where the visitors got settled.
Pandya gave away ten runs with a six and a four and that set the tone for the Caribbean side. Arshdeep was brought back into attack once again, but this time he also gave away ten runs with two singles and fours each. Axar Patel was handed the ball for the fourth over and he kept the batters quiet with his perfect line and length and gave away just five runs despite being hit for a four on the first ball.
Jasprit Bumrah took charge of the fourth over and almost got a wicket. He surprised Shai Hope with a slower delivery and almost had him. Bumrah again used his slower bowl, this time against Roston Chase who edged it and the ball went towards Abhishek Sharma who dropped an easy catch. Axar Patel bowled the sixth over and was taken on remand as he leaked ten runs off that over and India remained wicketless after six overs.
