India defeated West Indies by seven wickets at the National Stadium, Providence yesterday to keep the five-match series alive with two matches to go. On the back of Suryakumar Yadav’s dominating performance, India raced to 164 for three, responding to West Indies’ 159 for five and winning with 13 balls to spare.
The number one ranked T20I batter came to the crease in the first over after debutant, Yashasvi Jaiswal was caught at mid on for one by Alzarri Joseph off of Obed McCoy and soon lost Shubman Gill to Joseph for six.
However, Yadav went on to smash four sixes and 10 fours in his 44-ball 83. This allowed him to forge an 87-run stand in just 51 balls with Tilak Varma before picking out Brandon King at backward square leg off of Joseph.
Varma, playing in only his third T20I, continued his dream series debut and followed up his 51 in the last match with 49 not out.
The 20-year-old left-hander stroked four fours and one six in his 37-ball
innings while seeing his side over the line with his captain, Hardik Pandya who made 20 not out from 15 balls. Earlier, West Indies who won the toss and elected to bat, were off to a good start with Brandon King scoring a ball-a-run 42 with his innings featuring one six and five fours. He shared a 55-run stand for the first wicket with Kyle Mayers who made 25. Nicholas Pooran and Johnson Charles chipped in with 20 and 12 respectively but it was a 19-ball 40 not out from skipper, Rovman Powell that propelled West Indies to a respectable total. Powell cracked three sixes and a four during his brief stay at the crease.
Kuldeep Yadav was the pick of the bowlers, taking 3-21 while Axar Patel and Mukesh Kumar bagged one wicket each.
