Florida, Aug 13 (UNI) Suryakumar Yadav’s 61 off 45 balls helped India post 165/9 in the deciding 5-match T20I series against West Indies at Lauderhill’s Central Broward Regional Park Stadium Turf here on Sunday.
But for Axar Patel’s small cameo, India got through to a fighting total after they slipped at the death, losing 5 wickets after adding a paltry 31 runs.
Suryakumar and Tilak Varma (27 off 18) got India back into the game after Akeal Hosein sent back openers Yashasvi Jaiswal (5) and Shubman Gill (9) cheaply in contrast to yesterday’s innings where they cracked match-winning fifties.
While the Windies kept chipping away with regular wickets, India were on the course with Suryakumar batting flawlessly at the one end. Once Hardik Pandya walked in, India built the innings by batting cautiously.
Suryakumar notched up his fifty before heavens opened up for a brief period.
This was Suryakumar 18th fifty in the shortest format, which saw him equalling Virat Kohli’s record for the most 50-plus scores for India after 50 innings in T20Is.
Hardik was packed off soon after which opened the floodgates for the Windies to haul 5 wickets in 4 overs.
India failed to accelerate in the back-end and probably ended up 10-15 runs short. Romario Shepherd was the pick of the bowlers for West Indies as he picked up 4 for 31 from his 4 overs.
Nevertheless, chasing 166 will be a difficult task on a sluggish wicket with two wrist spinners Yazuvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav, and one left arm orthodox Axar in the helm of affairs for India.
In reply, West Indies are 71/1 in 7 with Brandon King and Nicholos Pooran batting on 30 and 27, respectively.
Kyle Myers was sent back to the dugout by pacer Arshdeep Singh who caught Jaiswal at mid-off for 10.
