Men in Blue experienced their second successive defeat in the five-match T20I series at the Providence Stadium on Sunday. Nicholas Pooran’s power-hitting helped West Indies to beat India by 2 wickets and take a 2-0 lead. Riding on Pooran’s brilliant knock of 40-ball 67, the hosts completed the chase of 153 runs with seven balls to spare. Indian skipper Hardik Pandya starred with a three-wicket haul.

Pandya’s decision to bat first did not work well as his side lost two good batters Shubman Gill and Suryakumar Yadav inside 4 overs. However, Ishan Kishan and Tilak Varma rebuilt the Indian innings by adding 42 runs. While Ishan departed for 27 Sanju Samson did not last long and walked back for 7. Tilak continued to bat well and reached his fifty in 40 balls.

Pandya played a cameo of 24 runs before Alzzari Joseph cleaned him up. While Axar Patel chipped in with 14 tail-enders contributed some runs and helped India to reach a decent total of 152/7 in 20 overs. For the Windies, Joseph, Akeal Hosein, and Romario Shepherd bagged three wickets each.

The Windies’ chase got off to a bad start as Pandya stunned them by taking two wickets in the very first over. Arshdeep Singh then removed Kyle Mayers (15) to reduce the hosts to 32/3 in 4 overs. However, Pooran stitched a crucial 57-run partnership with skipper Rovman Powell (21) to stay alive in the hunt. Although India took three wickets in the 16th over, the Windies held their nerves to secure a win.

At any cost, India will eye to win the third T20I and stay alive in the series. The Third T20I will be played on August 9, Tuesday.