West Indies hold nerve to beat India in Tarouba thriller in first T20 of series as Jason Holder stars

India’s 200th T20 International ended in disappointment, as West Indies claimed a four-run win in the opening match of the series.

After winning the Test and One Day series, India pitched up at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba in a confident mood.

But their hopes of celebrating the milestone - only Pakistan have played more T20Is - were dashed as West Indies produced a fine display with the ball.

The five-match T20I series is a chance for West Indies to bounce back, and they are on the front foot heading into the second game in Bourda on Sunday.

Victory for the hosts did not look likely for large portions of the match, after being restricted to 149 in their 20 overs.

The returning Nicholas Pooran (41 off 34) and captain Rovman Powell (48 off 32) were the star turns with the bat for West Indies, but 149 for 6 looked below par.

India openers Shubman Gill (3 off 9) and Ishan Kishan (6 off 9) were dismissed cheaply, but pace was injected by Suryakumar Yadav (21 off 21) and Tilak Varma (39 off 22).

On what was his debut in international cricket, Varma announced himself on the world stage with a sparkling effort with the bat.

The youngster hit his first two scoring shots for six and raced to 39 before being caught on the boundary by Shimron Hetmyer off the bowling of Romario Shepherd.

The catch was routine by Hetmyer’s standards, but the other two he pouched were out of the top drawer.

The snare to remove Yadav was a diving effort, low to his left, while the one to dismiss Axar Patel (13 off 11) saw him get under a ball that came from a huge height.

West Indies were excellent in the field on Thursday and Kyle Mayers’ run out of Sanju Samson (12 off 12) summed up the effort.

Jason Holder sat out the ODIs, but returned to action on Thursday and showed his experience with two wickets off his four overs at a cost of 19 runs to tighten the screw with a player-of-the-match performance.

Shepherd was left with nine to protect from the final over, and he knocked over Kuldeep Yadav (3 off 9) with a brilliant yorker as West Indies closed out the win.

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