RESULT
2nd T20I (N), Thiruvananthapuram, December 08, 2019, West Indies tour of India
170/7
(18.3/20 ov, T:171) 173/2

West Indies won by 8 wickets (with 9 balls remaining)

Player Of The Match
67* (45)
lendl-simmons
New
WI
Full commentary

So with the series tied 1-1, it's time for us to say goodbye. Hope you enjoyed ESPNcricinfo's coverage of the match. On behalf of Saurabh, Chandan and Sidharth, this is Sreshth signing off. See you on the 11th!

10.40pm The presentation is now underway.Lendl Simmons, the Player of the Match:"Like playing against India. It's a good challenge. Haven't played international cricket for a while, so enjoying it. I didn't start how I wanted to. My partners can go from ball one but I am a bit old schooled. With experience, you know your game, and I understand my role. It was easier to bat after the Powerplay: getting the odd boundary. Pooran and Hetmyer were getting boundaries easily so I played the different role."

Kieron Pollard, the winning captain: "Things like low rankings happen. Different circumstances, that's in the past. What we can control is what's in front of us. To be able to restrict India to 170 after my expensive over, it was fantastic. The way we batted, we had discussed how to approach the game, and the boys played it well. We have some guys who have done well from the CPL, and we are excited for them. I am pretty excited for this young bunch. Walshy's four overs were really good. Kesrick bouncing back too. Simmo started slow, but he knows he can catch up. He has played a lot in India. Seniors showed their way and youngsters followed. I am continuing to enjoy my cricket. Most I can do is pass on the knowledge to the youngsters. We will have good results if we stay as a unit. I pride myself on being a leader. God has given me a talent to play cricket. So when I come out, I come out with a will to win. And now captain, the will is stronger. But there were areas we need to improve about: couple of wides, couple of no-balls. We look forward to the final game at Wankhede."

Virat Kohli, the losing captain: "Numbers say a lot of things. They can say a lot of things that aren't there as well. I think we were good for 16 overs while batting. But then last four overs we got only thirty. We need to focus on that. Shivam's knock helped us reach 170. To be honest, WI bowled cutters and their change of pace did not help us. But if we field so poorly, no amount of runs will be enough. We were poor with the field in the last two games. We dropped two catches in one over. Imagine if they lost two overs in the same over. Everyone saw we need to be more brave in fielding. Do or die game coming up in Mumbai. (About Dube) we knew they will use spinners early so we thought why not use Shivam's power. The plan worked well. (The catch he took) It was just something that stuck in my hand. Committed to the ball and luckily it stuck. I dropped a one-hander in the last game. West Indies played a very good game and they deserved to win."

M SAI KIRAN: "surprisingly, there weren't any comments on Lendl Simmons. I was really looking for him to play, and look at his calmness. As a senior player he did really well playing the innings through! well done Simmons. "

10.35pm Presentation incoming.

Nicholas Pooran: "I want to thank the almighty. To be honest, we had no pressure. Tried not to panic, tried to build partnerships. There's a bit of competition in the middle order, but we all want to do good. That's all. I work very hard and happy it's finally paid off. I believe in my processes and glad it's coming off. Cricket's all about having fun. I've put in a lot of hard work, so now is time for having fun."

Sriki: "Not picking Kuldeep was a big mistake. He would have been the bowler of the day on this wicket"

KC: "When things are going good that's when you should experiment. Even though India won the 1st game it really didn't make sense to keep the same attack and repeat the same mistakes. Playing Chahal against mighty left handlers defies logic and common sense. Believe we are running out of time and missing out on golden opportunities to experiment. "

#randomcommenta: "The difference between the teams today was the fielding - ground fielding as well as catching...the Indian team said something about lights being low in Hyd..what here I wonder?"

Vinod Rajpal: "Lucky 7 for Windies as their end their 7-T20I losing streak against India...."

Nakul: "I know there are alot of other big guns in West Indies but in my opinion Nicholas Pooran is one of the best and complete batsmen in that team. What a classy show he put on today! Completely closed the gates on India tonight. "

10.25pm So the chasing team wins once again. Another easy victory, just like the first game, for the side winning the toss. But to say it was a cruise won't be true. West Indies fought back after Shivam Dube's assault in the first innings and after that their opening batsmen rode their luck to give the visitors an imposing start. After that, Lendl Simmons (67*) found reliable partners to anchor WI across the finish line. Lewis, Hetmyer, Pooran ... all looked impressive. Stick around for the presentation... it should be a good one. The series is now tied 1-1.

Supradeep: "T20 is a very fast moving game. Many things like the left-right combinations, planned field sets etc are not very effective. Pragmatism is the most important virtue of a good T20 team and a caption. Kohli is an excellent student of the game but he's not proactive enough. He lets games slip too easily while defending. He's gotta do better. Or India should find someone who can get better out of this excellent bunch."

Sjaka: "This match proves that India has yet to crack T20 code!!!"

18.3
4
Chahar to Pooran, FOUR runs

back of a length, on middle, and pulled to deep midwicket. West Indies win by eight wickets

Raman: "Congrats Windies. You induced life into this series. Good luck both the teams for the finale."

18.2
1
Chahar to Simmons, 1 run

overpitched, outside off, and he opens the bat's face to play a shot towards short third man

18.1
Chahar to Simmons, no run

yorker, outside off, and dug away to the off side

Three runs to win

end of over 1814 runs
WI: 168/2CRR: 9.33 RRR: 1.50
Nicholas Pooran34 (17b 3x4 2x6)
Lendl Simmons66 (43b 4x4 4x6)
Bhuvneshwar Kumar 4-0-36-0
Deepak Chahar 3-0-30-0
17.6
6
Bhuvneshwar to Pooran, SIX runs

walloped! Length, on leg stump, and he paddles a shot nonchalantly over backward square for six! Strong wrists with a really whippy swing of the bat

NKG: "Just by good batting you cannot win all matches"

17.5
1
Bhuvneshwar to Simmons, 1 run

worked off his pads to deep backward square leg again

17.4
1
Bhuvneshwar to Pooran, 1 run

length ball, on middle, and driven gently past the non-striker to long off. They jog across for one

17.3
1
Bhuvneshwar to Simmons, 1 run

short ball, angling in, and comfortably pulled to the fielder manning the backward-square boundary

17.2
1
Bhuvneshwar to Pooran, 1 run

slower ball, length on middle. Nudged off his hips to square leg

17.1
4
Bhuvneshwar to Pooran, FOUR runs

full, on off, and he drives through the off side! Fielder at cover can't cut it off, and the man in the deep is a mere spectator. Virat shaking his head, Bhuvneshwar muttering something under his breath

Required run rate less than six

end of over 1712 runs
WI: 154/2CRR: 9.05 RRR: 5.66
Lendl Simmons64 (41b 4x4 4x6)
Nicholas Pooran22 (13b 2x4 1x6)
Deepak Chahar 3-0-30-0
Bhuvneshwar Kumar 3-0-22-0
16.6
6
Chahar to Simmons, SIX runs

clubbed! Overpitched, outside off, and he drills a shot over Iyer at long off. Tracer-bullet stuff

16.6
1w
Chahar to Simmons, 1 wide

yorker, just outside the tramlines. Close call, but wide given

16.5
1
Chahar to Pooran, 1 run

length ball, aimed at his hips, and nudged away behind square

16.4
1
Chahar to Simmons, 1 run

full toss, wide outside off, and he slaps a cut to Rahul at deep point. Bad ball, he's lucky that went for just a single

Anon06: "This match reminds me of the 2016 semis between these two teams. India put up a decent total, and WI chased it down with Simmons being the backbone. And the difference between the teams? The number of sixes hit."

16.3
1
Chahar to Pooran, 1 run

good length, on middle. and he mistimes a dragged pull to midwicket

16.2
2
Chahar to Pooran, 2 runs

dropped again! This time it's Shreyas Iyer. This was skied over the bowler's head and Iyer - from long on - runs to his right to take a catch, but the ball goes through his palm

16.1
Chahar to Pooran, no run

good length on middle. Cramped for space, but punched to cover

end of over 1615 runs
WI: 142/2CRR: 8.87 RRR: 7.25
Lendl Simmons57 (39b 4x4 3x6)
Nicholas Pooran18 (9b 2x4 1x6)
Bhuvneshwar Kumar 3-0-22-0
Yuzvendra Chahal 3-0-36-0
15.6
4
Bhuvneshwar to Simmons, FOUR runs

flayed Length ball outside off and Simmons skips down the wicket before slicing a muscled drive over the fielder at cover

15.5
1
Bhuvneshwar to Pooran, 1 run

length ball on off, and he defends with soft hands

Amit: "The difference between two innings is a power hitting. India hit 5 sixes in whole inning. WI already have 10 now"

15.4
2
Bhuvneshwar to Pooran, 2 runs

back of a length, outside leg stump. Nudged off his hips to the vacant midwicket region, and that allows the batsmen to pinch the second run as well. High IQ cricket

15.3
4
Bhuvneshwar to Pooran, FOUR runs

stand and deliver! Length ball, angling across, and he thuds a punched shot through the two fielders on the off side. Races away to the extra-cover boundary

Sandeep: "Spinners become so ineffective without Dhoni!!"

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