Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant’s half-centuries helped India win the second T20I by an 8-run margin against West Indies on Friday.
At Kolkata, West Indies made just 178 in response to 187, losing three wickets despite a dangerous century partnership between Nicholas Pooran (62) and Rovman Powell (unbeaten 68 off 36 balls).
India swept the West Indies 3-0 in the one-day international series earlier this month. The Men in Blue are 2-0 up in the three-match T20I series.
Wicket-keeper-batsman Pooran hit five fours and three sixes in 41 balls before being bowled out by Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the 19th over for just four runs.
Powell tried a last attack with two sixes off Harshal Patel with 25 required off the final over, but the bowler kept his cool.
Roston Chase got three wickets when the West Indies decided to bowl in captain Kieron Pollard’s 100th Twenty20 International, but Pant’s unbroken 52 guided India to 186 for five.
After Kohli’s 52, India’s batting faltered, but Pant’s unbeaten 52 off 28 balls and Venkatesh Iyer added 76 runs for the fifth wicket to raise the score.
Sheldon Cottrell’s pace bowling caught Ishan Kishan behind for two runs after the left-handed opener’s struggle at the crease during a 10-ball stay.
Kohli and skipper Rohit Sharma rebuilt the innings in their 49-run stand, with the former captain coming in with all guns blazing and smacking a flurry of boundaries.
Chase returned to Rohit for 19 runs before catching and bowling Suryakumar Yadav for eight runs.
Kohli, who scored eight, 18, and nought in India’s 3-0 ODI series victory over the West Indies and then 17 in India’s first T20 victory, overcame a short slowdown to hit his thirtyth T20I fifty.
He reached 50 with a six off Chase, who ended with figures of 3-25, but was dismissed two balls later after a 41-ball knock.
Pant and Iyer, who struck 33 off 18 balls before being bowled by Romario Shepherd, then fought back to turn the tide.
The West Indies’ chase got off to a rough start when Kyle Mayers was caught and bowled for nine runs by leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal.
Pooran blasted a couple of boundaries against the bowlers, but Ravi Bishnoi’s leg spin swiftly removed opener Brandon King.
Pooran, who was dropped at deep midwicket by Bishnoi on 21 and then raised his second successive fifty with a six, added 100 with Powell.
The final match will take place at the same site on Sunday.
