Suryakumar Yadav and Venkatesh Iyer powered India to their sixth consecutive T20I victory on Sunday night, at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, with the home team crushing the West Indies by 17 runs to clinch the three-match series 3-0 having earlier blanked New Zealand late last year by a similar margin in the shortest format to embark on a new era under Rohit Sharma.
Even though it has come at home in favourable conditions and against the opponents that India are likely to dominate more often than not, it has indeed been a strong turnaround in fortunes for a team which had looked completely jaded and out of sorts in the last T20 World Cup, wherein they had failed to go past the initial round.
The Indian cricket team has certainly reaped benefits of approaching T20 cricket with fresh ideas and young talent, with the likes of Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Harshal Patel, Venkatesh Iyer and a few others getting their chances and making most of them as well.
On Sunday night, Suryakumar scored a brilliant 61 whereas Venkatesh Iyer hammered yet another quickfire 35* which powered India to a strong total of 184/5, after the West Indies asked them to bat first. In their reply, the Caribbean side could manage just 167/9 despite yet another half-century — his third consecutive in the series — from their vice-captain Nicolas Pooran, who waged a lone battle at one end.
With Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant rested from the match as well as the upcoming T20I series against Sri Lanka starting in three days’ time, India juggled with their batting line-up to give more chances to their lesser-known batsmen with a new opening pair in the form of Ruturaj Gaikwad and Ishan Kishan.
Gaikwad, however, could not make the opportunity count when a delivery from Jason Holder seemed to move away from him he tried to flick it in the midwicket region. The ball took a thick outside edge and flew all the way to the fielder at third-man, with India losing their first wicket without any significant score on board.
Shreyas Iyer walked in at No 3 and he showed aggressive intent and approach to his batting in the company of Kishan. The two batsmen put on 53 runs from 36 balls for the second wicket to help the team revive from the loss of an early wicket, but the dismissal of Iyer — who made 25 from 16 balls — once again put India on the back foot.
The pair Rohit Sharma and Kishan could not do much damage and similar fate was that of the combination of Rohit and Suryakumar, who could add only 27 runs from 25 balls for the fourth wicket.
But it was a combination of Suryakumar and Venkatesh Iyer for the fifth wicket which caused real damage, with the two young Indian batsmen adding as many as 91 runs from only 37 balls to power India to a total of in excess of 180.
Suryakumar played an innings as aggressive as it could get, clobbering 7 sixes and 1 boundary to make 65 from only 31 balls. On the other hand, Venkatesh Iyer continued making giant strides in his fledgling career, hitting 4 boundaries and a couple of sixes to remain unbeaten on 35 which came from only 19 balls.
The West Indies were once again let down by the batsmen with the opening pair of Kyle Mayers (6) and Shai Hope (8) perishing without making any dent on the scorecard. Pooran continued to pile on runs against the Indian bowlers, cracking 8 boundaries and a six to make 61 from 47 balls, but he severely lacked support from the other end despite West Indies carrying plenty of firepower.
Rovman Powell could manage only 25 from 14 balls with a couple of sixes and as many boundaries, while the West Indies were let down by their senior players, captain Kieron Pollard (5) and all-rounder Holder (2). Roston Chase could manage only 12 whereas Romario Shepherd kept faint hopes alive right until the end with a 21-ball 29, for which he hit 3 sixes and 1 four.
Post the conclusion of the match as well as the tour, the Caribbean team left for their home late in the night on Sunday from Kolkata. The Indian cricket team will now move to Lucknow where they will take on Sri Lanka in the first of the three match T20 series starting on Thursday, February 24. The two teams will then move to Dharamsala for back-to-back matches over the weekend, February 26 and 27. India and Sri Lanka will also play two Test matches with first to be played at Mohali and second at Bangalore, in early March.
Devarchit Varma is a cricket writer and journalist with an experience of more than a decade, having worked at Hindustan Times (newspaper) and CricketCountry (website). Along with covering international and domestic cricket, he has also interviewed several current and former top players such as Rohit Sharma, Steve Smith, Dale Steyn, Michael Hussey, Jacques Kallis, Brendon McCullum, Shane Watson, Lasith Malinga and many more. He has also worked in other beats as a journalist in Bollywood (Reliance BigOye) and IT (SiliconIndia) industries.
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