Team India captain Hardik Pandya praised openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill for their batting performance after the visitors defeated West Indies by nine wickets in the fourth T20I to level the series at 2-2.
At the Central Broward Regional Park Stadium Turf Ground on Saturday, India completed a comprehensive 9-wicket victory for the visitors to bring the five-match T20I series against the West Indies to a 2-2 tie.
“There are more Indians here. The way they have been supporting, they have been coming in numbers, they make sure that we give them some entertainment. There is no doubt in their (Gill and Jaiswal) skill set. Going forward, we will have to take responsibility as a batting group and help out our bowlers. Bowlers win matches. If they can get you a couple of wickets, you can control the game. Shubman and Yashasvi were brilliant. The way they ran in this heat … and … making sure they finished the job, it was very pleasing to see,” said Jaiswal in a post-match presentation.
“I like to captain how I see the game. I like to go with my instincts. We lost two games but the first game, it was our own error, we were cruising quite well, we messed it up in the last four overs and did not cross the line. We did not do much different in the next two games. All these games give us a lot of confidence. We had to pull up our socks and play good cricket, that’s exactly what the boys did. In T20 cricket, no one’s favourite. You have to turn up and play good cricket. You got to respect the opposition. They were 2-0 up because they played better cricket than us. Tomorrow we turn up and do exactly what we did today and hope for the best,” he added.
With this victory, India has tied the series 2-2; the final game will be played on Sunday.
West Indies chose to bat first and was brought down to 57/4 in 6.5 overs by Arshdeep Singh and Kuldeep Yadav.
Shimron Hetmyer and Shai Hope both contributed to WI passing the 100-run threshold (45 in 29 balls, three fours, and two sixes). Hetmyer’s white-ball tour finally came together for him as he scored 61 runs in 39 balls, including three fours and four sixes. He assisted WI in reaching a score of 178/8 in 20 overs together with Odean Smith (15* in 12 balls).
The top bowlers for India were Arshdeep (3/38) and Kuldeep (2/26) who provided a mixture of pace and spin that initially put WI in trouble. Each of Mukesh Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Axar Patel had a wicket.
India, chasing 179, got off to the perfect start. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill, the team’s openers, made the most of the flat, batting-friendly surface by amassing runs and bringing the side dangerously close to victory.
Gill was bowled by Romario Shepherd for 77 off 47 balls, which included three fours and five sixes, ending the pair’s 165-run opening stand. India was able to complete the chase with three over remaining thanks to the contributions of Tilak Varma and Jaiswal (84* in 51 balls, 11 fours, and three sixes).
Jaiswal’s effort won him the title of “Player of the Match”.
