India defeated West Indies by seven wickets with Suryakumar Yadav’s brilliant 83 and unbeaten Tilak Varma’s 49 in third T20I match at the Providence Stadium in Guyana.
Pandya finished the match with a huge winning six.
Suryakumar Yadav delivered a special performance as India beat West Indies by 7 wickets in the third T20I of the five-match series at the Providence Stadium in Guyana. The right-handed batter scored 83 off 44 deliveries as India chased down their target of 160 runs with 13 balls remaining. While West Indies had won the toss and elected to bat first, they managed to put on 159/5, thanks largely to captain Rovman Powell who provided a strong finish to the West Indies side.
Powell remained unbeaten on 40 off 19 deliveries as West Indies posted the highest first innings total in the series so far. However, that did not prove to be enough as Suyakumar, who came in at number 3 after debutant Yashasvi Jaiswal departed in the first over itself, had other ideas.
The Mumbai Indians star was in sublime touch and took the attack to the opposition right from his first ball, hitting a four and a six off his first two deliveries.
By the time Suryakumar departed in the 13th over, India had already posted 121 runs and needed 39 more runs to win off 44 balls, meaning less than a ball when the required run rate at the outset was 8. Varma’s knock also needs a special mention as the left-hander was happy to play second fiddle but did take his chances when he thought the ball was there in his zone. He was on the verge of completing his second half-century of the season in three matches but Hardik Pandya finished things off with a six with Varma unbeaten on 49.
Earlier Kuldeep Yadav, who replaced Ravi Bishnoi in the Playing 11, emerged as the team’s leading wicket-taker in the match, finishing with figures of 3 for 28. Mukesh Kumar bowled 2 overs at the death and gave away 18 runs for his 1 wicket while Axar Patel was the other wicket-taker for the team, finishing with figures of 1 for 24 from his 4 overs. For West Indies, Obed McCoy removed Jaiswal (1) in the first over itself while Alzarri Joseph got rid of Shubman Gill (6) inside the powerplay before returning to pick the wicket of Suryakumar.
West Indies still lead 2-1 in the five-match series. Kuldeep Yadav took three wickets while Mukesh Kumar and Axar Patel contributed with one each as West Indies posted 159 for the loss of five wickets.
Brandon King was the top-scorer with 42 runs while skipper Rovman Powell slammed 40 off just 19 deliveries.
The Men in Blue, who last lost to the West Indies in a bilateral T20 series back in 2016, trail 0-2 in the five-match series.
