India vs West Indies, 2023, 1st T20I: Who said what after West Indies’ win in the 1st T20I

West Indies defeated India by a close margin of 4 runs in the first T20I.

West Indies are alive! Men in Maroon have shown their prowess in the T20 format once again and defeated relatively stronger on paper team India by a close margin of 4 runs. They have successfully defended their modest total of 149 runs. After winning the toss, WI captain Rovman Powell decided to put runs on the board.

WI Captain Rovamn Powell (48) and Nicolas Pooran (41) played magnificent knocks to take the West Indies side score close to 150 and ended on 149. Chasing the total, Team India struggled from the beginning as they lost the top 3 in 10 overs. Later on, Pressure got Captain Pandya (19) and Sanju Samson (12) out early after a poor opening stand. Playing his first T20I, Tilak Verma (39) was the only batter to put on some challenges ahead for West Indies. 

‘Losing wickets makes chase difficult’

Indian captain Hardik Pandya blamed the batters for the loss and said that losing wickets in T20Is always cost big in the game. He said, “We were right to chase. We made some errors that cost us the game. A young team will make mistakes, We will learn… In T20Is if you lose wickets It becomes difficult, a couple of hits can change the momentum, when we lost a couple of wickets, that halted us.”

He also talked about the two debutants in the Indian team and said, “Mukesh, to have this two weeks in the West Indies, to make debuts in all three formats is really good. Tilak Verma is very pleasing to see, there’s confidence and fearlessness. They are going to do wonders for India.” 

Powell hails pacers after the victory

The winning captain Rovman Powell shared a very good feeling after winning the first of five T20Is in the series. West Indies have got off to a great start in the T20 series. Talking about the win, WI captain Rovaman Powell said, “It’s a very good feeling, We talked about starting the series on a positive note and we did it today.”

Rovman Powell revealed that once the camp was worried as they thought that they are a spinner short. Powell further added, “After watching the Indians bowl, We were thinking if we are a spinner short but our fast bowlers bowled into the wicket. It was difficult to bat”. Powell also said that the series will be decided on how West Indies batters bat against the Indian spin attack. He said that Nicolas Pooran, Shimron Hetmyer, and Kyle Mayers will be key in that aspect. 

A roaring comeback for Jason Holder

West Indian all-rounder Jason Holder was awarded Player of the Match for his bowling spell. Holder picked up 2 wickets and conceded just 19 runs in his 4 overs with one maiden. Holder got Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya out in his spell. Holder took a break from the ODI series, Talking about his performance He said, “The amount of Cricket I have been playing is a lot. I try to refresh, I think it was needed, I was happy just I stuck with my plans. I wanted to make them work hard for their runs.” He also credited the team effort for the West Indies team’s win. Along with him, Akeal Hosein also put pressure on Team India and got Shubman Gill in the powerplay. 

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