India defeated the West Indies by five wickets in the first Twenty-20 International at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata last night to take a 1-0 lead in the 3-match series. Krunal Pandya had a memorable debut as he hit the winning runs to help India beat West Indies. However, that was not before Kuldeep Yadav (3/13) led the Indian bowlers’ fine show with three wickets to restrict West Indies to 109/8 in their first innings.
This was after India elected to field and the bowlers responded well with the pacers giving them a fine start. In reply, India lost early wickets but courtesy of a fine partnership between Manish Pandey and Dinesh Karthik chased down the total with 13 balls to spare and five wickets in hand.
Dinesh Karthik top-scored with an unbeaten 31, with debutant Krunal Pandya making 21 not out. For his fine performance, Kuldeep Yadav won the man of the match. The second T-20 will be played tomorrow in Lucknow. The third and final game is slated to be held in Chennai on the 11th of this month.