Suryakumar Yadav keeps India’s hopes alive after his masterful knock of 83 runs off 44 balls with a strike rate of 189.
India finally won a third T20 match against West Indies in Guyana on Tuesday. Suryakumar Yadav led the batting attack with his powerful striking. He scored 83 off just 44 balls. He was accompanied by youngster Tilak Verma who played an anchor role and got India over the line.
Indian Spinners shined on the pitch of Guyana. While Yuzevendra Chahal went wicketless, Kuldeep Yadav took three important wickets of Brandon King, Johnson Charles, and Nicholas Pooran. Axar Patel too, sent back dangerous-looking Kyle Mayers. India will be eyeing to level the series in the fourth match in Lauderhill, Florida.
Highlights of the Third T20 between India and West Indies
Winning the toss, the Windies skipper chose to bat first on the dry surface of Guyana. They played Roston Chase in place of Jason Holder, whereas Kuldeep Yadav was back in the Indian team. Yashasvi Jaiswal finally made his T20 debut and replaced Ishan Kishan.
The West Indies opener gave a good start until Axar Patel sent back Kyle Mayers. Brandon King played a run-a-ball 42 runs knock, while Kuldeep Yadav got out in-form batter Nicholas Pooran early. Thanks to Windies skipper Rovman Powell, the team reached the highest total of the series of 159. He scored a quick knock of 40 runs off just 19 balls.
Spinners had a dominance from India as Kuldeep Yadav led the bowling attack by taking three important wickets which included in-form Nicholas Pooran too. Coming to chase, Indian openers fell shortly. Shubhman Gill got out to Alzarri Joseph once again playing a rough shot, while Yashasvi Jaiswal had a forgettable debut as he fell only for 1 run. Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Verma led the batting attack and helped India to get their first win of the series.
Why is the role of Suryakumar Yadav so important for the Indian T20 team?
The major reason for the first two losses for India was their batting concern, where their best T20 batter Suryakumar Yadav had not come into the party. But in the third match, Sky roared and single-handedly took away the match from West Indies and bagged the Player of the Match award.
This was Sky’s 12th man of the match award in 51 games he has played, which is joint second most record along with Rohit Sharma. Only ahead of them is Virat Kohli who has 15 matches of the match award. The amazing thing to highlight is that Suryakumar Yadav has won those 12 awards in just 51 matches, which is almost an award in every match. This shows the importance of Suryakumar Yadav in the Indian Team. When his day, He can take away the game from the opponent alone.
Tilak Verma who is having an amazing debut series scored 49 runs and missed his half-century by just 1 run. He is the only player after Suryakumar Yadav to score three consecutive thirty-plus scores in his T20 innings. Indian Captain Hardik Pandya is getting a lot of criticism on social media for not letting Tilak Verma complete his half-century and finishing a game by hitting a six.
The main concern for Team India is the form of Shubhman Gill. after the 2022 T20 world cup, Shubhman Gill has played every T20 match for India but hasn’t yet justified his place apart from his century against New Zealand. Shubhman Gill has scored just 16 runs in three-match averaging just 5.3 with a strike rate of 55.
