141/5 (19.2)
CRR : 7.29
138/10 (19.4)
CRR : 7.02
West Indies won by 5 wickets 🏆
Player of the Match
Player
6/17
19.2
4
A Khan to D Thomas
West Indies wins and levels the 5 match series 1-1. Devon Thomas has handled the pressure well and has seen his team over the finishing line. A short of a length slower delivery outside off and that has been cut away by Thomas well past the point area and it races away towards the boundary ropes. I am flabbergasted to see why Bhuvneshwar Kumar wasn't given the ball in the final over.
WI won by 5 wickets
Arya- A much-needed victory for West Indies but they were given a hard run for their money by the Indian bowlers but in the end, Devon Thomas kept his calm and took his side over the finishing line. The Indian bowlers kept them in the hunt but Rohit Sharma will surely be asked why Bhuvneshwar Kumar wasn't given the final over given his immense experience of bowling in these situations. It would have been a bitter pill to swallow for West Indies had they not managed to get over the line from the position they were in.
Arya- West Indies got off to a great start as Brandon King found the boundary on the very first ball of the run-chase. He found the boundary yet again towards the back end of the over as West Indies got off to the start they were after. Kyle Mayers struggled to time the ball initially but managed to utilise the free-hit by Arshdeep Singh. The duo batted sensibly and managed to find the boundaries at crucial junctures which never allowed the required rate to creep up. Arshdeep was smashed for a six and a four in his first over but he came back well in the rest of the deliveries.
India got the first breakthrough with the introduction of Hardik Pandya as he bagged the wicket of Kyle Mayers on the very first delivery of his spell. Mayers picked out the deep backward square leg fielder as he tried to clear the fence. Nicholas Pooran came in at the fall of Mayers' wicket and looked in great shape. He smashed a four and a six of Avesh Khan to get going but couldn't quite carry on as he was deceived by a good delivery from Ravichandran Ashwin.
Brandon King continued the good work at the other end and batted sensibly and never allowed the required rate to creep up. He went on to score a brilliant half-century but there was a bit of blip up from the West Indies middle-order batters. They couldn't quite get the boundaries they were after but the required rate was still well within reach for the home team. Hetmyer couldn't quite find the rhythm and was dismissed by Ravindra Jadeja after scoring 5. Devon Thomas was the next man in and tried to continue the good work by Brandon King.
He struggled to find the gap early on but in the end, he was phenomenal and was instrumental in getting his side over the line. King was dismissed by Avesh as he nailed the middle-stump yorker and King had no answer to it. However, the required rate was still within control and West Indies should have backed themselves to chase this down. However two brilliant death overs from Arshdeep Singh took the game to the final over but the surprise was when Rohit Sharma handed the ball to Avesh Khan despite Bhuvneshwar Kumar having two overs up his sleeve.
Avesh Khan conceded a no-ball to start with and from there on it was always going to be an uphill task for him to secure a victory for India. He was slapped for a six over deep point by Devon Thomas and finished the match off with a back cut towards the deep point boundary. This victory against India has come after a long time in this format.
India got the first breakthrough with the introduction of Hardik Pandya as he bagged the wicket of Kyle Mayers on the very first delivery of his spell. Mayers picked out the deep backward square leg fielder as he tried to clear the fence. Nicholas Pooran came in at the fall of Mayers' wicket and looked in great shape. He smashed a four and a six of Avesh Khan to get going but couldn't quite carry on as he was deceived by a good delivery from Ravichandran Ashwin.
Brandon King continued the good work at the other end and batted sensibly and never allowed the required rate to creep up. He went on to score a brilliant half-century but there was a bit of blip up from the West Indies middle-order batters. They couldn't quite get the boundaries they were after but the required rate was still well within reach for the home team. Hetmyer couldn't quite find the rhythm and was dismissed by Ravindra Jadeja after scoring 5. Devon Thomas was the next man in and tried to continue the good work by Brandon King.
He struggled to find the gap early on but in the end, he was phenomenal and was instrumental in getting his side over the line. King was dismissed by Avesh as he nailed the middle-stump yorker and King had no answer to it. However, the required rate was still within control and West Indies should have backed themselves to chase this down. However two brilliant death overs from Arshdeep Singh took the game to the final over but the surprise was when Rohit Sharma handed the ball to Avesh Khan despite Bhuvneshwar Kumar having two overs up his sleeve.
Avesh Khan conceded a no-ball to start with and from there on it was always going to be an uphill task for him to secure a victory for India. He was slapped for a six over deep point by Devon Thomas and finished the match off with a back cut towards the deep point boundary. This victory against India has come after a long time in this format.
Time for the post-match presentation ceremony with Samuel Badree.
Obed McCoy is the player of the match!
Obed McCoy: "I am doing this for my mom. She is home sick and this motivates me and I am just thankful for the performance today. [Wicket off 1st ball] I think it put a lot of pressure on the batters to come especially with the new ball bowling. I always look forward to wickets in the powerplay. That was the plan basically. I went in with a clear mind. In the previous game I was overthinking a bit so I stuck to my strengths. [On bowling in different phases] It actually gives me a challenge and it helps with experience and brings me as a player. I am just thankful to the experience and challenges."
Rohit Sharma, Indian skipper- Wasn't enough runs on the board for us. The pitch was a fair bit. Was playing nicely but we didn't apply ourselves. But I have been telling for a long time that when you are trying things as a batting unit there will be times when you won't succeed. It's all about giving opportunities to the young guys. If you don't give opportunities to Arshdeep and Avesh in the death overs then you will never find out that how they respond to these situations. Just one game, it's about backing them and giving them the right opportunities. That is something which I am really proud of (taking the game deep). When you are defending a target like this it will either finish in the 13th or the 14th over or we take it deep which we did today. There are certain things in our batting which we need to improve but we will continue to bat in those kinds of fashions. Unless you don't try to achieve something you won't get there. After one loss we are not trying to change anything drastically.
Nicholas Pooran, West Indies skipper- It's been a tough summer for us. We had lost a couple of close games and almost made a mess of this total. I am very happy we got over the line. Obed McCoy was exceptional. The bowlers stuck with the plans, and bowled on the surface. Better batsman has to bat the majority of the 20 overs. Today it didn't work out. Myself, Hettie has to keep taking the opportunities. King should have won the game for us. Thomas got a chance and got us over the line. Today McCoy was fantastic. Whatever I asked, he delivered. It's lovely to have him in the team and today he made my job very easy.
That brings us to the end of our coverage for today. Till the next time it's good-night and goodbye from me (Arya Sekhar Chakraborty), my fellow commentator Ninaad Dixit along with our scorer Zeeshan Naiyer.