The Indian cricket team swept aside the West Indies by eight wickets in the opening match of the IND vs WI T20 2026 series at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on Tuesday.
Indian T20 captain Shreyas Iyer, who led the team to a gold medal at the Asian Games 2026 in Japan earlier this month, starred with a maiden T20I hundred as the hosts comfortably chased down 172 with 32 balls to spare.
Earlier, Naman Dhir, playing his debut T20I match, had impressed with figures of 3/31 to bundle the Windies out for 171.
After Shreyas Iyer won the toss and elected to bowl, Arshdeep Singh, spearheading India’s pace attack with Jasprit Bumrah rested, drew first blood in the fifth over as Kamil Pooran edged one onto his stumps.
Shimron Hetmyer, promoted up the order, got off the mark with a boundary but lasted only two balls as he was run out in the powerplay over while trying to steal a single.
Two balls later, Axar Patel sent Rovman Powell packing for a duck, leaving the Windies reeling at 44/3 after the powerplay.
The visitors recovered from the tumble briefly with captain Shai Hope combining with Sherfane Rutherford to put together a 70-run stand for the fourth wicket. The Windies skipper brought up his fifty in 36 balls but lasted just one more as Naman Dhir gave India the crucial breakthrough.
Hope’s departure from the pitch triggered a collapse as the lower half of the West Indies batting line-up crumbled before Naman Dhir and Kuldeep Yadav’s trickery with the ball as Rutherford looked on from the other end.
Running out of partners, Rutherford took the attack to the Indian bowlers and raced to his seventh T20I fifty in just 31 balls. Mayank Yadav, though, sent the dangerman back in the penultimate over to avert any late damage.
The West Indies innings closed out with five balls left. Naman Dhir shone on his T20I debut with three wickets, while Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav scalped two apiece.
In the chase, Abhishek Verma got India off to a flyer, hitting Matthew Forde for a six and two fours in the first over but failed to capitalise on the start as he fell for 21 off just 10 balls, caught off Roston Chase by Hetmyer.
Sanju Samson played one straight to bowler Akeal Hosein after contributing just 11.
Iyer and Ishan Kishan, though, steadied the ship. After a brief period of consolidation, both batters stepped on the gas to pick up the scoring rate.
The Indian captain looked in fine nick and reached his fifty in 28 deliveries and immediately launched Shamar Springer for his first six of the match, signalling his intent.
Iyer took just 14 more deliveries to reach his maiden T20I ton, with Matthew Forde facing the brunt of the assault, as the Indian hit him for three sixes and a four in the 14th over.
One more maximum off Chase in the following over brought up his century and a single from the next ball wrapped up the match. Ishan Kishan was unbeaten on 37 at the other end.
India will face West Indies in the second match of the series in Ranchi on Friday.
IND vs WI, T20 2026 match 1, brief scores: West Indies 171/10 in 19.1 overs (Sherfane Rutherford 56, Shai Hope 52; Naman Dhir 3/31) lost to India 172/2 in 14.4 overs (Shreyas Iyer 102 not out; Akeal Hosein 1/37) by eight wickets.
read more: https://www.olympics.com/en/news/india-vs-west-indies-t20-cricket-2026-match-1-report
