Lauderhill (USA): A disappointing display from the batsmen saw India lose the series 2-3 to West Indies by eight wickets in the inclement weather-affected fifth and final T20 International here on Sunday. West Indies thus won the first T20 International series against India since 2017. Brandon King was the star in the final match victory, whose innings of 85 not out was studded with five fours and six sixes. This is also his best score in T20 Internationals.
Captain Hardik Pandya’s team came back from 0-2 down to level the series 2-2 but the players faltered in the decider. Suryakumar Yadav (61 runs), winning the toss and coming out to bat with the help of his second half-century in the series, scored 165 runs after losing nine wickets after the poor performance of the batsmen.
The pitch was not easy to stroke, yet Suryakumar hit four fours and three sixes in his 45-ball innings. Chasing this target, West Indies got off to a brisk start and shared a 72-ball 107-run partnership for the second wicket with King (55 balls) and wicket-keeper batsman Nicholas Pooran (47 runs, 35 balls, one four, four sixes). Won by scoring 171 runs for two wickets with overs remaining. Hardik tried four bowlers in the powerplay and Arshdeep Singh got the first breakthrough West Indies lost the wicket of Kyle Mayers (10 runs) in the second over, who was caught by Arshdeep at mid-off by Jaiswal.
But Pooran and King scored 61 runs in the powerplay for the West Indies, losing one wicket with six sixes and three fours. West Indies scored 96 runs for one wicket in 10 overs thanks to these two batsmen. King completed his half-century on the third ball of the 13th over by hitting Yuzvendra Chahal for a six with one hand over long off, after which the players came out of the ground due to lightning in the sky.
It was the third hurdle in the match and the West Indies were 117 for one and the team was ahead by the Duckworth-Lewis method. According to DLS, the par score at this time would have been 91 runs. Then when the match started, Chahal completed his over and Tilak Verma was put on the bowling, who took the first wicket in international cricket by dismissing Pooran and also ended the 107-run partnership for the second wicket between Pooran and King. Earlier, during the Indian innings, there were two spells of rain which forced the match to be stopped twice.
The start of the Indian team was disappointing. He had lost the wickets of both his openers in the first two overs. Left-arm spinner Akil Hussain gave India a double whammy by taking the wickets of Yashasvi Jaiswal (05) in the first over and Shubman Gill (09) in the second over. Jaiswal, who played an inning of 84 runs in the last match, reached the pavilion by being caught by Hussain in an attempt to play the shot after going backfoot while Gill was out lbw in an attempt to sweep his full-length ball, who played an inning of 77 runs in the fourth T20 International. Was.
Tilak added 19 runs in the sixth over with three fours and a six. Due to this, India scored 51 runs despite losing two wickets in the power play. Expectations were pinned on the pair of Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Verma to play big innings. But in the eighth over, India suffered a third blow for 66 when Tilak (27 runs, 18 balls, three fours, two sixes) was caught by Roston Chase on his own ball, for which the help of the third umpire was taken.
Suryakumar and Sanju Samson took India to 86 runs in 10 overs. Samson disappoints again and misses another golden chance due to poor footwork. In the 11th over, Romario was dismissed for 13 runs by catching wicketkeeper Nicholas Puran off the ball of Shepherd. Captain Hardik Pandya was at the crease. Due to the pressure, there was no boundary from the 10th to the 14th over, due to which the score was 102 for four in 14 overs.
Suryakumar hit a six in the 15th over by lifting Shepherd’s ball over midwicket. He hit another sky-high six off the first ball of the 16th over to complete his half-century in 37 balls with three fours and three sixes, which is the 15th fifty of his T20 international career. Pandya (14 runs) fell victim to Shepherd on the next ball.
India’s hopes were shattered as soon as Suryakumar was dismissed in the 18th over. He was lbw out by Jason Holder. In the next hour, Shepherd missed a hat-trick chance after dismissing Arshdeep Singh (08) and Kuldeep Yadav (0). Arshdeep had hit a six on the first ball before getting out. Akshar Patel scored 13 runs in 10 balls by hitting a six.
