Karthik helps India post competitive total
After a brilliant start by the openers and No 4 Dinesh Karthik, India lost track in the end overs before an 18-run last over helped them finish at 190/6 in the one-off T20 International against West Indies at the Sabina Park on Sunday. India were given a flying start by skipper Virat Kohli (39 off 22 balls) and Shikhar Dhawan (23 off 12 balls), who added 64 in 5.2 overs. Then, Karthik (48 off 29 balls, 5x4, 3x6) used improvised strokes to maintain the innings run rate at over nine. However, quick late wickets ensured the hosts kept the target within limits. From 151 in 15.4 overs when Karthik fell, India inched to 172 for six in 19 overs, scoring 37 runs and losing four wickets between overs 14 and 19. However, they were lucky to have that last over as Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin scored boundaries to keep India’s run rate at 9.5. Picked ahead of Yuvraj Singh, Karthik vindicated the team management’s decision as he produced a blazing knock. He used the conventional sweep and slog sweep to good effect and once the edge off an attempted sweep carried the ball to the fence behind the keeper. The righthanded batsman, who played his first ODI recently after a gap of three years, also confidently walked down the track and across to lift the ball over the fence. He pulled with aplomb.
Karthik had scored a half-century in the last ODI of the series here, helping Virat Kohli chase down a small target to win the series.
Both Karthik and Pant shared an 86-run stand for the third wicket, scoring the runs at just under 10 overs with the former being the bigger contributor as the Delhi youngster struggled to time the ball on occasions.
Soon after Karthik’s dismissal, the wheels came off as MS Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav fell cheaply to peg India back.
Earlier, India began well with openers Kohli and Dhawan before twin strikes allowed West Indies to claw back.
Kohli started the innings with a four against Samuel Badree and Dhawan joined in with a couple of boundaries.
Brief scores: India 190-6 in 20 overs (D Karthik 48, V Kohli 39, R Pant 38, J Taylor 2/31) vs West Indies