Suryakumar Yadav might still be finding his feet and ‘learning’ his way through the 50-over format but T20s continue to come easy to him. He started off with a drive down the ground and a cut over deep point for a four and a six. Accompanying him in the carnage was debutant Tilak who showed there’s no such thing as nerves at this level anymore as he got off the mark with a disdainful shot over deep mid-wicket off an Alzarri Joseph ball delivered at 143kmph. Joseph pushed up the pace and pulled back the length for a similar result, this time the ball flying over deep square leg. The pair took India to 66/2 in 9 overs and put them in a fairly comfortable position despite Hosein’s tight three overs for just 15 runs.

The hosts clawed back over the next two overs and two Shimron Hetmyer catches. First, at cover, he took a sharp, low one off an uppish drive from Suryakumar and then one at deep backward square leg off a miscue from Varma. Just like that, India were down to 77 for 4 in 11 overs, needing 73 off 54 balls.

Runs didn’t come easy, and Hosein completed an immaculate spell of 1 for 17 in four overs, even as Hardik Pandya and Sanju Samson looked to drag India back on track. The pair got the odd boundary but had to gnaw at the deficit via singles and twos more often as they continued to struggle to middle the ball. The equation came down to 52 off 36 when a release over arrived. Hardik and Samson took 15 off McCoy, to put the pressure back on the hosts.

At 37 off 30 with two recognised batters in the middle, the game was still in India’s grasp but Jason Holder came back to rock the visitors again. He got his opposite number with an off-cutter before a direct hit from Mayers sent Samson packing. No runs were taken off it, leaving India’s long tail to get 37 off 24. Axar Patel, India’s last hope, injected life into the chase by going after Holder and getting a six down the ground in the 11-run 18th over that brought the equation down to 21 off 12. West Indies had also used up all the allotted time, and had to work with only four fielders outside the inner circle for the last two overs.

McCoy however, silenced the India fans by dismissing Axar on the first ball with a slower one but out walked Arshdeep to add another twist to what was turning out to be a dramatic finish to the chase. The left-hander flicked one past short fine leg fielder and then hit one over extra cover to keep the home side on their toes. It took India to the final over with 10 to get, but by the time Arshdeep got strike in the final over, India were eight down and still needed 9 from 4 balls. Romario Shepherd then nailed his wide yorkers to restrict Arshdeep and saw off the last batter, Mukesh Kumar, on the final ball when India needed six to win. In the end, India fell five runs short in chase.

Earlier in the day Brandon King began with a streaky four off the outside edge but made it his mission to try to maximise the PowerPlay. He gave debutant Mukesh the charge in his first over and took two successive fours off him. He then punished Arshdeep for straying down the leg side. Hardik brought on Axar in the fourth over and King responded by smashing him for a six with an inside-out shot over deep extra-cover.

On the first ball of the fifth over, India earned their first breakthrough when Yuzvendra Chahal appeared to have trapped Kyle Mayers leg-before. But replays showed it was a mistake from the left-hander to have not reviewed the call as the ball went well past the off-stump. Two balls later, Chahal ended King’s flamboyant stay by trapping him leg before. The opener – who scored 28 of the 29 runs on the board, took back a review with him.

Nicholas Pooran came out swinging for the fences like he was still in the blue of MI New York in Dallas where he played one of the finest T20 knocks and won a title with it. Like that day, he responded to the fall of wicket with a counter-punch as he hit Chahal for a four first ball and slog swept him for a six to end the double-wicket over. He gave Axar similar treatment to take West Indies to 54 for 2 in 6 overs.

On a slow surface, Hardik brought himself on and used change of pace to perfection as both Pooran and Johnson Charles struggled for fluency. India dug in further with a moment of brilliance on the field from Varma, who took a stunning catch in the deep to send Charles packing in the eighth over. Only 15 runs came from the four overs after the Power Play, taking West Indies to 69/2 at the halfway stage. Even after the drinks break, West Indies couldn’t quite push the scoring rate too high, as Hardik, Kuldeep Yadav and Chahal bowled well in tandem. The Indian skipper reaped the rewards of that phase as he got Pooran to hole out to deep mid-wicket and trudge off for a 34-ball 41.

Rovman Powell took the wheel from 96 for 4 in 14.1 overs and was largely responsible for his team getting to 149 for 6 in the end, with 42 coming off the last 30 balls. Powell slogged Hardik’s slower short ball over deep midwicket, muscled one over long-on from Chahal and then took on one of India’s trusted death-overs operators in Arshdeep. In the midst of a Powell-v-Indian bowlers tussle in the end, Mukesh bowled two high pressure overs – 18th and 20th – without giving away a single boundary. It took West Indies to 149/6 – a total which looked sub-par at that stage, but proved to be enough in the end.

Brief Scores:

West Indies 149/6 in 20 overs (Rovman Powell 48, Nicholas Pooran 41; Yuzvendra Chahal 2-24) beat India 145/9 in 20 overs (Tilak Varma 39, Suryakumar Yadav 21; Jason Holder 2-19, Obed McCoy 2-28, Romario Shepherd 2-33) by 4 runs