2nd T20I: Rohit Sharma’s India look to continue winning momentum, West Indies eye comeback

With uncertainity over the American leg of the series, Rohit Sharma-led India will look to continue their dominance over the West Indies in the second T20I at Warner Park, Basseterre, St Kitts on Monday. 

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The Men in Blue get into the match with an all-round performance in the first T20I, which they won by 68 runs. They lead the five-game series 1-0. 

Batting first in the first game, India got off to a flying start with skipper Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav attacking the Windies bowlers up-front. The former scored a 44-ball-64. However, the free-flow of runs briefly halted when the visitors lost quick wickets. 

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Dinesh Karthik, the player of thre match, then picked up speed in the death overs and took India to over 190 runs. 

Coming out to bowl, India got their first breakthrough at 22 runs. Wickets kept falling thereafter. Rohit Sharma, who fielded his three spinners Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravi Bishnoi, kept the pressure on with some smart captaincy. 

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Another victory would only boost India’s confidence further as they look to gain momentum ahead of the marquee T20 World Cup later this year.

Given Karthik’s prowess, he would fancy his chances of doing an encore.

“These are the small tick boxes that we need to have at this stage of the game but the ultimate goal is to do well in the T20 World Cup in Australia,” Karthik told his teammate Ashwin after the first game.

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Teams (from): India: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant, Ishan Kishan, Dinesh Karthik, Sanju Samson, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Parel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan, Bhuvneswar Kumar, Harshal Patel

West Indies: Nicholas Pooran (Captain), Rovman Powell, Shamarh Brooks, Dominic Drakes, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph, Brandon King, Kyle Mayers, Obed McCoy, Keemo Paul, Romario Shepherd, Odean Smith, Devon Thomas, Hayden Walsh.

Match starts at 8 PM IST.