Can finally breathe now: Nicholas Pooran after squeezing past India in second T20I
Aug 02, 2022
Basseterre [Saint Kitts], August 2 : Following his side's five wicket win over India in the second T20I, West Indies skipper Nicholas Pooran said that he can "finally breathe now".
A destructive spell from pacer Obed McCoy (6/17) and a superb half-century from Brandon King (68) powered an all-round West Indies to a five-wicket win over India in the second T20I of five-match series on Monday.
"I can finally breathe now. It has been a tough summer for us. We lost a few close games and nearly made a mess of this as well. Obed was fantastic and all the guys just used the pitch and the conditions well. A win is a win. I believe in T20, better batsmen have to bat long. Myself, Hetmyer can take more responsibility. King should have won the game for us with the way he was batting. But hopefully he will learn from this. Thomas returned back for us after injury and came out trumps on his home ground. Obed is a bit of a freak and today he was just fantastic. He just kept picking up wickets for us. He said he would bowl full and straight on the stumps to Dinesh Karthik and it worked. Lovely to have him in the team and have that left-arm action for us," said Pooran in a post-match presentation.
The five-match T20I series between West Indies and India is currently level at 1-1.
West Indies made a comeback in the second T20I, dismissing the Men in Blue for just 138 in their first innings. Left-arm pacer Obed McCoy ran through the Indian batting lineup with a superb spell of 6/17. Hardik Pandya (31), Ravindra Jadeja (27) and Rishabh Pant (24) played some decent knocks for India.
Chasing 139, West Indies were 3/83 in 12.3 overs at one point but a half-century from Brandon King (68) and Devon Thomas (31*) took the hosts to a series-leveling win.
McCoy won the 'Man of the Match' award for his match-winning spell.
