A record-breaking six-wicket haul by Obed McCoy on Monday paved the way for a nervy series-leveling five-wicket win for the West Indies over India in the second T20 international of the five-match series at Warner Park in St Kitts.
Comfortable winners of the opening encounter in Trinidad three days earlier, India were dismissed for 138 off 19.4 overs, with left-arm seamer McCoy returning the outstanding figures of 6-17, the best-ever by a West Indies player in T20 internationals.
Opening batsman Brandon King’s 68 set the hosts on their way to what looked a comfortable victory, before they stumbled toward the end and needed an unbeaten 31 from wicketkeeper-batsman Devon Thomas to reach the target off 19.2 overs.
Photo: AFP
McCoy, who has endured a succession of injury setbacks in the past 12 months, looked to be back to his best and gave the West Indies the perfect start when he claimed the vital wicket of India captain Rohit Sharma with the first ball of the match.
He also completed his four-over effort with a wicket — Bhuvneshwar Kumar — off his final ball and in between added the scalps of Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Dinesh Karthik and Ravi Ashwin as India’s vaunted batting lineup labored on a pitch offering disconcerting bounce.
“I went into this match with a much clearer mind than the last game,” McCoy said after being maned man of the match.
“I am enjoying the challenge bowling at the start of the innings and at the death, and so far I am really learning a lot from these experiences,” he said.
Hardik Pandya top-scored with 31, but no one in the visitors’ lineup was really able to get on top of a disciplined West Indies bowling effort.
“We didn’t bat well. We just didn’t apply ourselves, but that can happen,” Sharma said of his team’s batting performance. “But as I have said many times already, when you’re trying to achieve something as a batting group you won’t always succeed, so we aren’t going to change our plans based on this result.”
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