New Delhi (Sports Desk) — The West Indies defeated India by six wickets in the second T20 match, chasing down the target of 250 runs in 18.3 overs. Following the defeat, former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar strongly criticised the performance of India’s bowlers.
India scored 249 runs for the loss of five wickets in their allotted 20 overs, thanks to an excellent batting performance by Sanju Samson. However, the Indian bowlers failed to defend the imposing total.
For the West Indies, captain Shai Hope scored a century off 45 balls, while Sherfane Rutherford played an aggressive innings of 84 runs off 37 balls. The two teams scored a combined total of 501 runs.
Expressing disappointment over India’s performance, Sunil Gavaskar said the batters had scored more runs than expected, so the batting could not be blamed for the defeat. According to him, the real problem was the bowlers’ poor performance, as they failed to fulfil their responsibilities properly.
He questioned what expectations the bowling coach had of his players and whether the bowlers had managed to meet them.
Former Indian fast bowler Varun Aaron also criticised the bowling strategy, saying that after the first two West Indies wickets fell, India should have maintained the pressure by using its fast bowlers.
According to him, bringing Axar Patel into the attack in the fourth over of the powerplay was unnecessary because Shai Hope and Rovman Powell were struggling against the new ball. Axar Patel conceded 16 runs in that over.
Meanwhile, Indian captain Shreyas Iyer defended his team after the defeat, saying that the dew had made bowling difficult. He said it was not easy to determine the total required to defend a target under such conditions. As a result, despite scoring 249 runs, India’s bowlers failed to stop the West Indies’ aggressive batting.