West Indies' Dwayne Bravo, left, celebrates with team-mates after their one-run win over India in Lauderhill, Florida, on Saturday. APFlorida: India almost pulled of the highest-ever successful run chase in T20 Internationals with Lokesh Rahul smashing his maiden hundred, but suffered a heartbreaking one-run loss in the first of the two T20 match against the West Indies here on Saturday.
Rahul, who was included in the playing eleven ahead of Shikhar Dhawan, hit 110 not out from 51 balls with the help of 12 fours and five sixes and India were on the verge of chasing down West Indies' mammoth 245 for 6.
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India needed just eight runs from the final over and they should have have won the match with set batsmen Rahul and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni in full flow.
India needed two runs from the final ball to win the match, but Dhoni failed as he was caught by Marlon Samuels, slicing a slower delivery off Dwayne Bravo. India ended the run chase at 244 for 4 from 20 overs.
India thus failed to pull off the highest ever successful run chase which still stands at 236 for 6 which the West Indies scored against South Africa last year in Johannesburg.
Lokesh Rahul's unbeaten 110 off 51 balls went in vain. APDhoni's men, however, had the consolation of knocking off the highest ever T20I second innings score which was the same 236 for 6 which the West Indies made against South Africa.
Rahul, who was dropped on 36 by Andre Russell, became the third Indian to hit a century in T20 Internationals after Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma. He also became highest scorer by an Indian in T20Is.
Playing in his fourth T20I, Rahul reached to his 100 off 46 balls, the joint second-fastest in T20 Internationals along with South African Faf du Plessis and just one ball short of South African Richard Levi's 45-ball hundred against New Zealand in 2012 in Hamilton.
The match, the first international outing for India in United States, was in fact a competition of batting prowess between the two teams on a featherbed of a pitch on a small ground at Lauderhill.
West Indies' Evin Lewis en route to his hundred. APWest Indies' score of 245/6, the third highest T20 score, was amassed riding on rookie opener Evin Lewis' 100 (49 balls; 5x4, 9x6) and Johnson Charles' (79 of 33 balls; 6x4, 7x6) as the Caribbeans mauled the Indian bowlers after being put into bat by Dhoni.
This was the highest ever T20 International score against India by any team, surpassing the 219 for 4 by South Africa in Johannesburg in March, 2012.
The way the West Indians were hammering the Indian bowlers, it seemed that Dhoni's decision to insert the opposition in backfired, but his boys were up to the task and they were on the verge of turning the match on its head with a vintage batting performance only to fall short by just one run.
(With agency inputs)
