Tilak Varma struck his first international half-century, but it was not enough to prevent India from slipping to a dramatic two-wicket defeat in the second T20I against West Indies in Guyana. After winning the toss and choosing to bat first, India stumbled to 152-7 and, despite Nicholas Pooran's 67, appeared to be winning when West Indies lost four wickets for three runs to fall to 129-8.
Alzarri Joseph and Akeal Hosein, the West Indies' tailenders, maintained their composure and slogged the winning runs to send their team home with seven balls remaining. West Indies took a 2-0 lead in the five-match series after winning the series opener earlier in Tarouba by a margin of four runs.
The 20-year-old Varma, who helped light up the IPL with 343 runs for the Mumbai Indians this season, made 51 from 41 balls before clipping left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein to fine leg where Obed McCoy pouched the catch.
Varma came to the crease in the fourth over after Shubman Gill was caught at third man off Alzarri Joseph and Suryakumar Yadav, playing his 50th T20I, was run out by a direct hit from Kyle Mayers to leave India on 18 for two. Varma added 42 for the third wicket with Ishan Kishan before the opener was bowled by Romario Shepherd for 27.
After Sanju Samson's easy fall and the departure of Varma, who scored 51 runs on the strength of five fours and a six, it was up to captain Hardik Pandya to guide the Indians towards a respectable score with 24 runs off of 18 balls.