It was the 21-year-old Jamaican paceman’s T20I debut, and he certainly made an impression. His returns of 2-21 were excellent, and that his scalps were Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan made it even better. But what stood out the most was how Thomas got the ball to move in the air and off the pitch at speeds of over 140kph.

Carlos Brathwaite, the West Indies captain, was certainly impressed.

It's all over here at the Eden Gardens.#TeamIndia win by 5 wickets #INDvWI pic.twitter.com/zxDu8K9EYz

— BCCI (@BCCI) November 4, 2018

“It’s a young bunch of guys who want to be fearless and understand the privilege to represent Windies. I don’t know what the long-term plans will be from the selection panel but had a few chats with him (Thomas), just about using this opportunity,” he said of the youngster.

Another Knight Riders man playing a big part on the night was Dinesh Karthik. Karthik got in at 45-4 and scored 31* in 34 balls to shepherd India home in the company of debutant Krunal Pandya (21* in 9 balls).

“He (Karthik) batted really well – the conditions were in his favour. He led KKR in the last IPL season so was well aware of the conditions,” said Yadav. “It was also difficult because there were wickets falling at the other end and you had to rein yourself in. It was a very important innings for us. Credit goes to him.”

As such, 229-13 in 37.5 overs isn’t the norm in T20s, but with the ball moving around a lot in the pre-winter evening in Kolkata, it wasn’t too out of the ordinary.

“Sometimes, small totals like 110 become difficult to chase. At Eden Gardens, the ball swings later in the second innings. They bowled well, they bowled in perfect areas that made it really tough for us,” said Yadav.

The second game will be played in Lucknow on Tuesday, November 6.