India extended its winning streak on the tour of the West Indies with a 68-run victory on Friday in the first of five Twenty20 internationals.
India, which swept the three-match one-day international series, chose to bat first and scored a competitive 190-6.
Captain Rohit Sharma hit 64 in 44 balls at the top of the innings and No. 7 Dinesh Karthik was 41 not out off only 19 deliveries, with four fours and two sixes. Karthik and Ravichandran Ashwin (13 not out) shared an unbroken seventh-wicket partnership of 52 runs.
Karthik is the only Indian cricketer to win two Man of the Match awards in T20Is at 37 years of age.
Pacer Alzarri Joseph took 2-46 in his four overs.
The West Indies reached 122-8 in reply. Shamarh Brooks was the team’s top scorer with 20 off 15.
Brooks was bowled by medium pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who had bowling figures of 1-11 from his two overs. Arshdeep Singh (2-24), Ravi Bishnoi (2-26) and Ashwin (2-22) all contributed wickets from four overs each.
The last two matches of the T20 series will be played at Lauderhill in Florida.