Picture : BCCI/ Twitter
India won the third T20 against West Indies in emphatic fashion as they won by 7 wickets to take a 2-1 series lead in the five-match T20 series at Basseterre, St Kitts.
Winning the toss, India skipper Rohit Sharma opted to bowl first . West Indies were provided a good start with openers Brandon King ( 20) and Kyle Mayers 73 (50 balls,8 fours, 4 sixes) putting on 57 for the first wicket in 7.2 over before King fell. Other batsmen chipped in with useful contributions – Skipper Nicholas Pooran (22) , Rovman Powell ( 23), Shimron Hetmyer ( 20) and the team finished at 164/ 5 in their 20 overs.
India did well to restrict after West Indies threatened to score big. Indian bowlers pegged them back. Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2/35 (4 overs), Hardik Pandya 1/19 ( 4 overs) , Arshdeep Singh 1/33 ( 4 overs) , Ravichandran Ashwin 0/ 26 ( 4 overs), Avesh Khan 0/ 47 ( 3 overs)
India reply , India were pushed back with Skipper Rohit Sharma retired hurt ( back strain, expected to be fit though for the last two games) when he scored 11. Shreyas Iyer scored a quick 24 ( 27 balls) . But it was Suryakumar Yadav who was the star and lead India to victory with a superb exhibition of power hitting . SKY was brilliant in his 44 balls 76 ( 8 fours, 4 sixes) . Hardik Pandya was out for 4. Rishabh Pant not out 33 ( 25 balls , 3 fours, 1 six), Deepak Hooda not out 10 saw India home by six balls to spare by 7 wickets. India reaching 165/ 3 in 19th over.
For The West Indies : Dominic Drakes 1/ 33 ( 4 overs) , Jason Holder 1/ 30 ( 4 overs) , Akeal Hosein 1/ 28 ( 4 overs) were the three wicket-takers.
