Latest Match Report – India vs West Indies fifth T20I 2023
West Indies 171 for two (King 85*, Pooran 47) beat India 165 for 9 (Suryakumar 61, Shephard 4-31, Hosein 2-24) by eight wickets
India’s multi-format tour of the Caribbean and the USA ended with a T20I collection defeat to West Indies, with their lack of lower-order batting muscle and a lacklustre bowling present enjoying an element in Sunday’s end in Florida. However let that not take any credit score away from Nicholas Pooran and Brandon King, the architects of a wonderfully constructed chase.The pair placed on 107 off 72 balls for the second wicket and did not permit India a foot within the door. What appeared prefer it could be a difficult chase on the outset become a stroll, West Indies ultimately getting dwelling with 12 balls to spare to file their second straight T20I collection win and their first in opposition to India since 2017.
King, Pooran blaze away
West Indies misplaced Kyle Mayers within the second over to Arshdeep Singh, nevertheless it solely spurred them to go even more durable in drizzly circumstances that compelled the groups to have one eye on the DLS sheet.
Cramped for room and hit on the ribs by a brief supply second ball, Pooran provided the proper reply when he muscled Arshdeep over deep midwicket to open his account off the fourth ball he confronted. Pooran then had a slice of luck when he was nearly pouched by a diving Mukesh Kumar at mid-off within the third over of the innings, and he took full benefit of that by pummelling Hardik Pandya for back-to-back sixes quickly after.
Pooran continued to take pleasure in a charmed life when a small spike on Snickometer – the thinnest of edges off the glove making an attempt a slog sweep – helped overturn an lbw choice off Kuldeep Yadav within the fifth over. However round all this, there was a show of sensational hitting – clear and uninhibited – to throw India’s bowlers fully off the rails.
Did India err tactically?
India’s choice to play six bowlers (Hardik included), which brings with it the inherent danger of their batting really fizzling out shortly down the order, was particularly designed it appeared to counter conditions equivalent to this. Nevertheless, in the present day, in opposition to Pooran particularly, you puzzled in the event that they had been erring tactically.
Mukesh Kumar’s energy as a bowler is to swing it with the brand new ball. At the moment he bowled only one over within the first 10 (the tenth). Axar Patel was handed only one over (the fifteenth, with West Indies needing 42 from 36) and Yuzvendra Chahal, maybe at his lowest level when it comes to confidence, was introduced on within the powerplay – that over went for 14 with King welcoming him with an enormous hit in opposition to the flip for six.
The one bowler to rein within the batters considerably was Kuldeep, who assorted his tempo and lengths properly. Within the earlier two video games, Pooran was out attempting to take him on. At the moment, Pooran was intent on studying from that and milked singles off Kuldeep, whose first three overs went for simply 16.
After going neck-and-neck for a lot of the innings, King pipped Pooran to the half-century when he stepped out and clobbered Chahal over long-off within the thirteenth over to get there off 38 balls. No prior to the shot was hit, the gamers went off following a lightning warning.
Upon resumption, with West Indies needing 47 off 42, Hardik threw the ball to Tilak Varma for some offspin, and he struck second ball when Pooran gloved an tried reverse-sweep to slide. However Shai Hope got here in and performed a glowing hand, allaying any fears of a slowdown, by sealing victory with a six down the bottom.
Suryakumar, Tilak assist India get better after early blows
On the toss Hardik mentioned India needed to problem themselves by batting first, however three overs in, it appeared already that that they had fairly a job on their arms.
Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill, the architects of the carnage from 24 hours earlier, fell cheaply to Akeal Hosein’s left-arm spin. Jaiswal was accomplished in by the skid off the pitch whereas Gill was out lbw to a sweep he may’ve reviewed, with replays confirming the ball would’ve missed leg stump.
Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak offset that early strain with an outstanding counterattack. Tilak was particularly dismissive of Alzarri Joseph as he took him for 4, 6, 4, 4 within the sixth over. The six, particularly, was audacious – he swept Joseph off size to the deep-square-leg fence.
On the different finish, Suryakumar was having enjoyable of his personal, lofting Hosein, flat-batting a sweep down the bottom for 4 and standing tall and driving elegantly.
A slowdown…
India’s third-wicket pair had added 49 off 5 overs to kick the innings into fourth gear earlier than Roston Chase’s brilliance accounted for Tilak. What appeared an innocuous push for a single turned deadly when Chase, in his follow-through, ran to his proper and put in a full-length dive to seize the ball, and belted out a belated attraction. It appeared it might be a compulsory verify for a bump ball (Chase’s team-mates had not even appealed), however once more it proved to be way more than that: wild fist bumping ensued within the West Indies camp when replays confirmed Tilak had lobbed the ball straight off the bat and his cameo was nipped within the bud.
Then Sanju Samson fell for his third low rating of the collection – a nine-ball 13 – to Romario Shepherd. At 87 for 4 within the eleventh over, Hardik seemingly determined he wasn’t going to run the danger of exposing the decrease order too early and appeared to bat himself in. India went from overs 10.2 to 14 and not using a single boundary, earlier than Suryakumar launched Shepherd after which Joseph for six – the latter an inside-out six over cowl to lift his half-century off 38 balls. At 121 for 4 in 15.5 overs, India appeared to have set themselves up for a last assault when the rain got here down once more.
… Adopted by a collapse
Hardik fell quickly after resumption when he picked out long-on a supply after he had smacked Shepherd over the long-off boundary. Suryakumar adopted within the subsequent over when West Indies overturned a not-out lbw choice through the DRS. The decrease order simply unravelled from there; a fortuitous boundary from the final man Mukesh (edged previous the keeper) dragged India to 165 when, at one level, that they had appeared good for 190. The way in which the chase formed up, even perhaps that will haven’t been sufficient.
Shashank Kishore is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
