Akeal Hosein took West Indies to victory by two wickets in a thriller in the second T20I of the series against India at the Providence Stadium in Guyana to give the hosts a 2-0 lead.
When the eighth wicket fell, the West Indies still needed 24 runs in four overs to get over the line. With Alzarri Joseph and Akeal Hosein at the crease and only Obed McCoy to follow, the match seemed to be slipping away a bare 15 minutes after they had it in control.
Mukesh Kumar conceded just three in the 17th over, leaving West Indies 21 to get off the last three. Hosein, who has a first-class hundred and is often looked at as a left-arm spinner who provides batting depth, has hardly played memorable knocks down the order. He chose to turn up today.
Arshdeep Singh began the 18th over with an excellent wide yorker. Hosein sliced the ball behind point for four to bring the equation down to 17 off 17. In the next over, bowled by Mukesh, he lofted the fifth ball down the ground to take the hosts to victory.
Hosein has unleashed his “shut-the-noise” celebration every time he has taken a wicket in the series. He did the same again – after hitting the winning runs. His 16 not out off 10 balls was superbly complemented by Joseph’s 10 not out off eight, including a slog over mid-wicket off Mukesh for six, off the first ball of the 19th over.
Before the Hosein-Joseph partnership took centre stage, West Indies had pressed the self-destruct button out of nowhere.
Chasing 153, the hosts were comfortably placed at 126-4 after 13.5 overs. They needed just 27 in 37 balls with as many as six wickets in hand. Then Nicholas Pooran crunched a cover drive straight to the fielder to give India an opening.
Ravi Bishnoi gave just one run off the next over before Yuzvendra Chahal turned the game on its head in the 16th. Romario Shepherd was run out first ball. Jason Holder was stumped off the fourth, and Shimron Hetmyer was caught in front of the wicket off the last, to leave the West Indies at 129-8 before the tail-enders finished the job.
Earlier, India had won the toss and managed to struggle their way through to 152. Tilak Varma became the second-youngest Indian man to score a T20I half-century, after Rohit Sharma, but did not get much support though as Hosein, Shepherd, and Joseph picked up two wickets each themselves to restrict the visitors to a below-par total.
This was the first time the West Indies beat India more than once in a bilateral series. The third T20I will be played at the same venue on August 8. And there will be a lot on the line.
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