India were 35 for 2 chasing 172, and Shreyas Iyer’s 42-ball hundred won it with 32 balls left
Shreyas Iyer made his first T20I hundred and Naman Dhir took three wickets on debut as India beat West Indies by eight wickets in Lucknow to go 1-0 up in the five-match series.
Oct 7, 2026
India were 35 for 2 inside four overs on Tuesday night, chasing 172, with Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson both gone. Shreyas Iyer took it from there. He reached his first T20I hundred in 42 balls, was still there at the end, and India won the opening match of the five-game series at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow by eight wickets with 32 balls left.
That is ten T20I wins in a row for India. When Iyer took over as captain in June, his first seven games brought six defeats and no win, and that start already looks a long way back.
Ninety-five to a hundred in one swing
Iyer and Ishan Kishan added 137 for the third wicket, and Iyer did most of the damage. He took 19 off Romario Shepherd’s ninth over and reached fifty from 28 balls. In the 14th over he hit three sixes and a four to move to 95, and two balls into the 15th he cleared long-on off Roston Chase for the hundred.
Only Tim David has made a faster T20I century against West Indies, in 37 balls in 2025. No Indian has done it quicker against them. Kishan made 37 from 27 balls at the other end and passed 3,000 international runs on the way.
West Indies had started well with the ball, to be fair. Chase had Abhishek for 21 from 10 balls, and Akeal Hosein, playing his 100th T20I, removed Samson for 11. They did not take another wicket.
Dhir takes three on debut
Iyer chose to bowl, and West Indies were 44 for 3 after the powerplay. Arshdeep Singh had the debutant opener Kamil Pooran playing on for 12, and Axar Patel then bowled a maiden in which Shimron Hetmyer was run out and Rovman Powell bowled.
Shai Hope and Sherfane Rutherford pulled things round. Hope, the captain, reached his fifty from 36 balls, and Rutherford made 56 from 34. At 135 for 8 with four overs to go, West Indies looked like finishing well short of 160. Rutherford and Hosein then added 36 from 18 balls, and the innings ended on 171, all out in 19.1 overs.
Naman Dhir, in his first T20I, took 3 for 31 from four overs. Kuldeep Yadav had 2 for 33 and Axar 2 for 26. Kishan held the best catch of the night at deep midwicket to remove Matthew Forde. He lost the ball in the floodlights, then found it again late and took it low to his left while sliding.
I’d say 171 was 15 or 20 short on that pitch. It needed early wickets to make it competitive, and West Indies got two in the first four overs and none after that.
On to Ranchi
“I think if we continue with the same mindset we will be one of the most destructive teams in T20I cricket,” Iyer said afterwards.
The second T20I is in Ranchi on Friday, 9 October, with India 1-0 up.