India limit West Indies to 149/6 in first T20I

TAROUBA: India leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal made instant impact in his first game on the tour before Rovman Powell played a captain's knock to take West Indies to 149 for six in the first T20 International here on Thursday.

Besides Powell's 48 off 32 balls, the in-form Nicholas Pooran made an entertaining 41 off 34 balls.

India handed maiden T20 caps to young batter Tilak Varma and pacer Mukesh Kumar, who made his Test and ODI debut earlier on the tour.

With the new ball not doing much in the powerplay, the Indian pace duo of Mukesh and Arshdeep Singh was not able to put the West Indies top-order under pressure.

Hardik Pandya introduced spin in the fourth over and Brandon King (28 off 19) made his intentions clear with an inside out six over cover off Axar Patel. Chahal (2/24) was brought into the attack in the following over and a struggling Kyle Myers (1) missed a slog sweep off the leggie's googly only to be adjudged lbw. The replays showed the ball was missing the stumps but Myers chose not to review. Two balls later, King missed a straight ball off Chahal to be trapped in front. Pooran, fresh from his sensational hundred in the Major League Cricket final, looked in devastating touch from ball one. He dispatched Axar for a six and four in the cow corner region, leaving the West Indies at 54 for two in six overs.

Powell then got into the act and smashed three sixes and as many fours to taking the innings forward.

However, the West Indies were never able to get the final flourish, adding 42 runs off the last 30 balls with the loss of two wickets. Besides Chahal, Arshdeep (2/31) also chipped in with two wickets for the visitors.