Obed McCoy's six-wicket haul earns West Indies win over India

West Indies bested India in their T20 series on Monday at Warner Park. The Windies won the game by five wickets with only four balls left to spare. Star bowler Obed McCoy was responsible for the triumph after posting his career-best bowling figures of 17 runs alongside a six-wicket haul. The teams are now tied ahead of the third game on Tuesday.

McCoy’s stellar bowling performance was the best in Windies history. The left-arm medium-fast bowler broke the previous five-wicket haul record made by a West Indies player. Cementing his name as one of the Windies’ greats, McCoy dedicated his six-wicket haul to his mother.

“I want to thank God. I'm doing this for my mom, she is home sick. This is motivating me to be a better player. Thankful for it,” he said after the game.

Winning over India

West Indies was at risk of trailing behind Team India. In addition, the team had a three points gap in front of their series rival. In the previous game, West Indies was defeated with a margin-wide 68 runs.

India had difficulties racking in victory points. Windies batsman Brandon King, wicketkeepers Devon Thomas, and Nicholas Pooran managed to best all-rounders Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja and wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant.

King was rolled in as a replacement to batsman Shamarh Brooks. The 27-year-old dominated after crushing the first ball of the chase far to the deep point. King was complimented by fellow batsman Kyle Mayers, who quickly went for an eight in the opening. Team captain Pooran was also committed to the play by going 14 and ensuring the team cruised over India on the scoring board after only ten overs.

The 25-year-old McCoy said after the game that he always aimed for wickets in the powerplay as this would limit the enemy team’s batsmen from scoring more runs.

“It put a lot of pressure on their batters. I always look for wickets in the powerplay because that stops batsmen from scoring runs in the powerplay,” he said.

McCoy said defeating India was a "great feeling" for him as he was “overthinking in the previous game”.

"Great feeling to do it against a top side like India," McCoy said. "Went in with a clear mind. Was overthinking in the previous game."

Among West Indies’ greats

McCoy’s six-wicket haul was not a small feat since there are only five Windies players, including him, to have recorded five or more wickets in the T20I format. The previous record was limited to a five-wicket haul, and none have successfully broken it until Monday’s matchup.

“It was just the fifth time a West Indies player had taken five wickets or more in a Men's T20I, with McCoy joining the likes of Keemo Paul (5/15 against Bangladesh), Daren Sammy (5/26 against Zimbabwe), Jason Holder (5/27 against England) and Oshane Thomas (5/28 against Sri Lanka) and then going one better than the previous quartet by collecting a sixth wicket,” International Cricket Council wrote.

The team will only need to post the exact dominance in Game 3 to ensure the series win is in their hands.