Arshdeep, Kuldeep the pick of bowlers, final game on Sunday
On a sunny Florida day before a vociferous NRI crowd in Lauderhill, and with Bollywood hits like ‘Badri Ki Dulhania’ playing during breaks, India produced a quality allround performance to crush West Indies in the fourth T20 on Saturday by nine wickets and with three overs to spare.
Chasing West Indies’ below par 178, the Indian opening pair of left-hander Yashasvi Jaiswal (84 not out, 51 balls, 11x4, 3x6) and right-hander Shubman Gill (77, 47 balls, 3x4, 5x6) slammed the West Indian attacks to all corners of the scenic ground to get the job done in style. Their opening partnership of 165 is a record in T20Is.
India have now won the last two matches to tie the series 2-2. The fifth and final game will be played at the same venue on Sunday.
Earlier, Arshdeep Singh (3/38) and Kuldeep Yadav (2/26) bowled excellently to restrict West Indies to a modest 178/8.
West Indies chose to bat after winning the toss, influenced in part, surely, by the tendency of the Central Broward Stadium pitch to lose pace as the game progresses.
But excluding Shai Hope (45) and Shimron Hetmyer (61), the West Indies batters failed to fully capitalise on their decision.
Indian captain Hardik Pandya handed the ball to left-arm spinner Axar Patel for the first over, in an attempt to deny pace to the batters. But the gamble did not work, as Kyle Mayers carted him for a six and a four and grabbed 14 runs from the over.
But Mayers confident start was cut short in the second over by Arshdeep. Attempting a ramp shot, Mayers found his room cramped as the pacer adjusted his length. Sanju Samson effortlessly caught the edge behind the stumps.
Hope and Brandon King put on 35 runs for the second wicket, and that took the Windies past the 50-run mark during the Power Play. But King, despite hitting two sixes, was not quote timing the ball. To some degree, that was because of Arshdeep’s mix of slow deliveries, bouncers, and knuckle balls. And ultimately an ambitious drive resulted in a catch taken by Kuldeep at short third man.
Kuldeep was the other key bowler for India, getting rid of the dangerous Nicholas Pooran and captain Rovman Powell in the same over.
In just eight balls, the West Indies were down at 57 for four. Their innings recovered due to the efforts of Hope and Hetmyer. But they ended up 20-30 runs short. But then even those would not have been enough, such was the dominance of Gill and Jaiswal.
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