Finally in the 3rd T20 match India gets the taste of victory by defeating West Indies by 7 wickets. Windies is still in the lead in the 5 match series by 2-1. West Indies put 159/5 in 20 overs and India surpassed the score in 18th over and put 164/3. Pandya finishes the innings with a six.
Caribbean won the 1st T20 by 4 runs while the 2nd T20 won by 2 wickets in a nail biting finish.
West Indies won the toss and they opted to bat. Caribbeans got a steady start and both Mayers and King put 55 runs for the 1st wicket. Axar breaks the partnership by dismissing Mayers. A thick top edge, Arshdeep took an easy catch. Mayers scored 25 runs. (55-1). Charles was the next man dismissed. He seemed a little uncomfortable playing the spinners and as a result Kuldeep took this advantage and got him. Charles made 12 runs. (75-2).
Then the man with the momentum and player of the match in the last match, Pooran got out. He again looks destructive but a low bowl of Kuldeep gets him and Samson uprooted the stumps easily. Pooran made 20 runs. (105-3). In the same over, Kuldeep again strikes and this time he gets the wicket of set batsman, Brandon King. Kuldeep took the catch in his spell. King departed after scoring 42 runs in 42 balls. (106-4).
Runs were coming very slow, and Captain Pandya introduced Mukesh Kumar and he proved his captain right by taking the wicket in his very first ball by dismissing Hetmyer. Hetmyer scores only 9 runs. (123-5).
But Captain Powell shows some fierceless batting in the death overs and helps Windies to get past 150 runs. He remains not out at the end and scores 40 runs in 19 balls which includes 1 four and 3 sixes. Shepherd also remains unbeaten and scored 2 runs. West Indies at the end scored 159 runs with the loss of 5 wickets in 20 overs.
India in response to this got a very poor start as they lost their opener Yashasvi Jaiswal in the first over. McCoy gets him. Jaiswal made only 1 run. (6-1). Then in the 5th over, Gill again failed to score big and he got out cheaply after scoring 6 runs. Joseph gets the credit for his dismissal. (34-2).
Then the much awaited innings of Suryakumar Yadav came and he along with Tilak Varma put 87 runs for the 3rd wicket. Surya then tries to hit the full toss of Joseph outside the ground but it misses little inside and King grabs it easily. Suryakumar Yadav scored 83 runs in 44 balls which includes 10 fours and 4 sixes. (121-3).
Tilak Varma the debutant again impresses with his batting. In all the 3 matches he performed brilliantly and this again he showed his pure batting skills. He along with Pandya gets the finishing line. Tilak Varma made 49 runs while Pandya scored 20 runs. Both of them are not out at the end. As a result, India won the match by 7 wickets.
SuryaKumar Yadav (India) Awarded Player of the Match
“It was really important to be myself when I went in to bat in the powerplay, that’s what the team management also wanted. I have practiced these strokes a lot and I loved doing that.”
About Tilak Varma he added, “We have batted together for a long time. We both understand how each other bats and the way he batted it gave me a lot of confidence. It was a great innings from him at the other end. It was running on the back of my mind but at the same time we spoke in the team meeting. Our Captain said someone needs to put their hands up and win the match. Glad I was able to do that.”