India vs West Indies 2nd T20I Highlights: India beat West Indies by 8 runs, take unassailable 2-0 lead in series

This pair of Rishabh Pant and Venkatesh are eyeing some late boost for India and they have already added 46 runs on the board as a pair, off 20 deliveries. Pant smashed six boundaries while Iyer hit three boundaries and a six.

India 152/4 in 17 overs.

A poor over from Cottrell! He hit back-to-back boundaries against Cottrell - flicked the first one ove short fine leg and pulled the slower one over square leg for a boundary. Pant ended the over with a boundary through backward square leg.

India 139/4 in 16 overs.

He pulled the first ball over short fine for a boundary before hitting back-to-back fours in the final two balls - one powered through covers and the other slipped past short third man.

India 124/4 in 15 overs

Roston Chase struck for the third time in the game as he dismissed Kohli for 52. India go 4 down with 106 runs on the board in 13.4 overs

30th fifty for Kohli and he has been lucky to get that. Holder waited for that catch in the deep, grabbed it and then the ball slipped out of his fingers and went over the rope for a six. With that he equals Rohit Sharma for most 50-plus scores in T20I cricket.

In the six overs after powerplay, India have scored only 39 runs with two dismissals. India also registered 11 dot balls and four boundaries during the period. 

India 88/3 in 12 overs

A tossed up delivery from Chase and Suryakumar looked to drive the delivery towards long-off but instead got a thick inside edge which carried straight to the bowler. India lose both Rohit and Suryakumar successively.

India 76/3 in 10 overs.

Rohit and Kohli had picked up the pace impressive as they managed to help India recover after the early dismissal of Ishan Kishan. However, Roston Chase ended Rohit's innings for the second time in the series, hence ending a 46-run stand. 

India 60/2 in 8 overs

Romario Shepherd hit for back-to-back boubdaries by Kohli- first one ramped over the bowler's head and the other crunched through the covers. Rohit ended the over with a huge six towards deep backward point boundary.

India 49/1 in 6 overs

West Indies made their first change as Pollard brings in Holder and Kohli welcomed him with a brutal boundary - ramped the shortish delivery over cover. Rohit joined the party with a pull over mid-wicket for a boundary in the fifth ball.

India 34/1 in 5 overs

In the second ball of the over, Cottrell went short and wide of off as Rohit looked to slash it, but the ball went straight to Brandon Kings at backward point and he failed to grab it. In the fifth ball, Rohit cut the widish ball through deep backward point for a four.

West Indies continue with Akeal and Kohli smashed the second ball past square for a boundary before scooping the final delivery of the third over for another.

India 18/1 in 3 overs

Cottrell came and troubled Ishan early on in the second over which included a caught-behind review before he dished out a skiddy leg-side ball that Kishan got a leading edge to as the ball ballooned off the willow to land safely in the hands of the fielder at backward point. Virat Kohli joins Rohit at the middle.

India 10/1 in 2 overs.

Poor start from Akeal as he delivered two no balls in the first over. He conceded a single only in his first three balls before delivering consecutive no balls one of which went for a four bye before conceding two runs in his next three balls. 

India 10/0 in 1 over.

West Indies legend Ian Bishop rings the bell. India captain Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan make their way to the middle. Akeal Hossein to open the attack for West Indies. 

Pollard will be playing his 100th T20I game today, becoming the first from West Indies to achieve the feat. Overall, he is ninth cricketer to join the elusive club with Pakistan's Shoaib Malik leading the list with 124 appearances.

Rohit Sharma: We need to get back to our basics. It is a lightning outfield. Understand the game situation. Bat freely and see what we need to do after Powerplay. As a team, we want to improve in all departments. Whether we finish the game clinically or not, we need to keep improving.

Kieron Pollard: Looks a good track. The last game dew was the factor. We will try to bowl first and limit them to a low total. Continue to execute our skills. We can't do much in a one day break.

India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Chahar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Yuzvendra Chahal

West Indies (Playing XI): Brandon King, Kyle Mayers, Nicholas Pooran(w), Rovman Powell, Kieron Pollard(c), Jason Holder, Odean Smith, Roston Chase, Akeal Hosein, Romario Shepherd, Sheldon Cottrell

Kieron Pollard wins the toss and opts to bowl against India. 

Since the 2021 T20 World Cup, West Indies have a strike rate of just 108.55 in the middle overs, only better than Afghanistan and Bangladesh, and average only 20.02, which remains the worst.

"Between overs 6-15 we only scored 46 in 9 overs and if we had 18-20 more runs during that phase it would have been competitive. After six overs they were in front, but I thought the bowlers and fielders did really well to pull things back" - Pollard after 1st T20I.

He has been dismissed only four times with the new ball since 2021 T20 World Cup, but although not being dismissed by this variety, he has shown a bit of discomfort against it. He has scored at a strike rate of only 126.1 against slow left-arm orthodox variety, the lowest he has registered anay any other type of bowlers and West Indies hence can deploy Akeal Hosein in the powerplay against Rohit. Well, West Indies did try that in the series opener with Rohit managing four runs off two balls against the spinner in the powerplay.

Between 2018 and the start of the 2021 T20 World Cup, Rohit scored 752 runs in T20 cricket (including IPL runs) at a strike rate of 122.88 in the powerplay with a boundary percentage if 18.3 and a dot ball percentage of 46.7. However, since the start of the tournament, the Indian skipper scored 235 runs at a strike rate of 171.5 with a boundary percentage of almost 30 and a dot ball percentage of 42.3.

And how has India benefitted from that? Since the 2021 T20 World Cup, the team has a powerplay strike rate of 146.91 which is the most by any team in the format.

Also a member of the KKR, who was retained by the franchise, Venkatesh Iyer played the role of an opener in the last season following which he broke into the Indian team, where the management sees him as a finisher. He failed to impress the management with his poor return in his maiden T20I series, against New Zealand at home, after after just two opportunities in the ODI series in South Africa, lost his spot in the format. However, he the most of it in the first T20I against West Indies to score an unbeaten 13-ball 24 while he also bowled an over, where he conceded only four runs. Venkatesh will be getting another chance today and will be hoping to make the most it again as India continue their search for a pace-bowling all-rounder.