TAROUBA: West Indies defeated India by four runs in the first T20I of the five-match series at Trinidad and Tobago on Thursday. West Indies, which won the toss and elected to bat, scored 149 runs for the loss of six wickets in the allotted 20 overs. It then managed to restrict India to 145/9. With this, Windies took a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.

Rovman Powell scored the highest for West Indies with 48 off 32 while Nicholas Pooran played a fine knock of 41 runs in 34 balls.

Openers Ishan Kishan (6) and Shubman Gill (3) returned early in India's reply innings. However, Suryakumar Yadav (21) and debutant Tilak Verma (39) gave India hope. Surya was dismissed when the team score stood at 67 and Tilak was dismissed when the score stood at 77. Skipper Hardik and Sanju Samson then put on a partnership, helping India reach the 100-run mark in 14.1 overs. The 16th over proved to be a game-changing one as first, Pandya was bowled for 19 off 19 balls by Holder and later Samson was run out by Kyle Mayers for 12. India sunk to 113/6 in 16 overs, needing 37 in the final four overs. India's hopes of winning the match were dashed with the dismissals of Akshar Patel (13), Kuldeep (3) and Arshdeep (12).

The second Twenty20 will be played in Providence on Sunday.