Former India pacer Venkatesh Prasad was not at all impressed with India's selection for the first T20I against West Indies at the Brian Lara Stadium in Trinidad. India picked Shreyas Iyer as their no.3 choice in the series opener, which did not go down well wit Prasad, who termed the selection 'bizarre' as India had players like Sanju Samson, Deepak Hooda and Ishan Kishan in their arsenal. "Some of the selection calls keeping the upcoming World T20 in mind are worth pondering. Shreyas Iyer in T20 cricket when you have Sanju Samson, Hooda and Ishan Kishan in the team is bizarre. With Virat, Rohit and Rahul definite starters, need to work on getting the right balance," Prasad tweeted on Friday.
As it turned out, Iyer was dismissed for a four-ball duck by Obed McCoy after getting a leading edge ton a delivery that held its line. The right-hander, however, hit two fifties in the recently-concluded ODI series against West Indies. When a fan reminded Prasad of that, Prasad said Iyyer is a good choice in ODIs but India currently have better players than the Kolkata Knight Riders captain in T20Is.
"He is good in 50 over cricket. In T20 cricket, there are better players as of now who can get going from the word go. Shreyas will have to work hard on his skills for T20," Prasad replied.
{{/usCountry}}"He is good in 50 over cricket. In T20 cricket, there are better players as of now who can get going from the word go. Shreyas will have to work hard on his skills for T20," Prasad replied.
{{/usCountry}}Meanwhile, India won the first T20I by a comfortable margin of 68 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series. Captain Rohit Sharma, one of a handful of first-choice players rested from the ODI matches, laid the foundation for his team's total with a top-score of 64 off 44 balls with seven fours and two sixes highlighting the opener's composed effort.
Dinesh Karthik then gave the innings important late impetus with an unbeaten 41 off just 19 balls, his unbroken seventh-wicket stand of 52 with Ravi Ashwin in the last four overs seeming to drain the West Indies' enthusiasm in the sweltering midday heat.
India spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravi Bishnoi had too much guile and picked up two wickets each against a West Indies batting line-up which struggled to build any sort of momentum.
Brooks's 20 was the best effort of a mediocre batting performance, leaving West Indies captain Nicholas Pooran to contemplate on yet another implosion by his team, two days after being thrashed by 119 runs in the last match of the ODI series.