India and West Indies met at Providence Stadium once again. West Indies were comparatively relaxed, with a 2-0 lead. It was up to the visitors to make sure that they kept the 5-T20 series alive for the nation. Win ultimately poured itself on India as Hardik Pandya delivered the final touch with a six in the fifth ball of his opponent’s skipper.
West Indies were pursuing their third victory to conclude the series once and for all. Considering they have been unable to defend themselves in the test and ODI series, making a comeback in the T20 series was the only option left for the 2-time short format World Cup champions. Their decision was to bat first and make full use of the pitch conditions. They were expected to deteriorate.
Brandon King and Kyle Myers even attempted to unleash an attacking strike, but Pandya’s tactics of sending his spinners ahead of pacers came in handy. King missed his half-century by 8 runs; however, his partner had to depart at 25 runs off 20 balls. The entire top order of the Indies army was taken aback by the spin attack.
Leading that attack was Kuldeep Yadav. He is now credited with 50 wickets in just 30 innings. He picked up a total of 3 wickets in the 3rd T20 versus the hosts, becoming the fastest Indian bowler to reach the milestone. His economy was 7.00 throughout the spell of 4 overs.
Another spinner who did wonders was Axar Patel. He was hit for some huge shots, but he made a pretty good recovery, courtesy of dots he found in the middle of his overs. The result was that his economy stood at 6.00 in 4 overs with the wicket of Kyle Myers to his name. It was important to pick the left-handed batter since he was closer to accelerating the strike rate of 125.00.
Powell remained unbeaten for 40 runs in 19 balls. The expectation was that Nicholas Pooran would stand on the opposite end. That happened neither in the case of Shimron Hetmyer. West Indies were at 123 for the loss of 5 wickets in the 18th over. Skipper stretched that scoreboard to 150+ decent runs.
India was initially looking at a tight spot, having lost their opening pairs in the powerplay once again! Yashasvi Jaiswal had a T20 debut experience worth remembering. He opened an account for a single and then went back to the dugout. Shubham Gill delivered disappointment with a strike rate of 54.55 and contributed just 6 runs off 11 balls. Winning probability on the best cricket betting sites shifted for a while. Then Suryakumar Yadav entered, eventually tagged Player of the Match for his 83 runs off 44 balls innings.
Tilak Varma missed his half-century by a single run to remain unbeaten at 49 runs off 37 balls. He has handled the 4th position smoothly throughout the T20 series.
The series is very much in play. India and West Indies next meet on August 12, 2023, at Central Broward Regional Park, at 8 pm IST.
