India sealed off a comfortable 9-wicket victory for the visitors to level the five-match T20I series against West Indies on 2-2 at the Central Broward Regional Park Stadium Turf Ground on Saturday. Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal impressed with the bat in the fourth T20I as they stitched up a 165-run partnership to keep the WI bowlers at bay.
While chasing a target of 179, Gill and Jaiswal provided India with the ideal start. Jaiswal managed to put past his nightmarish debut where he got out for 1(2). On the other hand, Gill who has struggled throughout the white ball series once again had a slow start to the game.
Jaiswal began his innings by finding the boundary on the very first ball of the second innings. On the other end, Gill took his time to settle on the pitch.
Once he understood the variations that were up for the offer, Gill didn’t waste a moment to get his innings going.
Gill kicked off the boundary fest with a maximum off Obed McCoy in the fourth over. Jaiswal followed up with two consecutive boundaries in the next over to set the momentum for the final over of the powerplay.
In the next over Gill struck two maximums and a four off Odean Smith to end the powerplay with a score of 66-0. After the end of the powerplay, there was no stopping the young talented opening duo. They took on the WI bowlers and maintained a healthy run rate. The hosts struggled to pick up the correct line and length which further added to their miseries. India took full control of the game during the halfway point of the second innings. They reached the 100 run-mark without losing a single wicket.
Yashavi brought up his maiden T20I half-century in the next over, while Gill completed his 50 two balls prior with a double. The onslaught of both batters continued till the 16th over. Gill lost his wicket for 77 off 47 balls as he made a failed attempt to clear the boundary. Romario Shepherd claimed the first wicket of the match for the hosts but the damage was already done. Youngster Tilak Varma stepped on the pitch to see off the game and level the T20I series (2-2).
Earlier in the innings, Shai Hope and Shimron Hetmyer’s blistering knocks of 45 and 61 respectively drove WI’s total to a competitive total of 178-8.
While the majority of the batters struggled to survive on the pitch, Hetmyer and Hope managed to hold on to their wickets during the middle phase to put their team back on track.
After Hope’s wicket, Hetmyer kept attacking the Indian bowlers until he lost his wicket in the final over to Arshdeep Singh.
Brief Score: West Indies 178-8 (Shimron Hetmyer 61, Shai Hope 45; Arshdeep Singh 3-38) vs India 179-1 (Yashasvi Jaiswal 84*, Shubman Gill 77; Romario Shepherd 1-35).
Source ANI
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