West Indies wins the T20 series against India

After failing to qualify for the world cup for the first time, West Indies badly needed a morale booster. And the T20 series against India did just that. West Indies defeated India in the 5-match T20 series by 3-2.

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India is one of the toughest teams in the world right now; this is good news for cricket fans in the West Indies. Although it cannot completely heal the scars for now qualifying for ICC Men’s ODI World Cup 2023, it is a breath of fresh air.

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But how did all of this turn out to be? Let’s have a detailed look at this match.

India won the toss – A target of 166

Things were looking good for India as they won the toss. The conditions looked good for batting, which they chose to do.

But things turned bad as the blue shirts lost their first two wickets cheaply. The openers, Yash and Shubham, got out on 5 and 9, respectively. Akeal Hossain was on the moon when he thrashed the top order with these two wickets.

Related: India Squad for men’s world cup 2023

But Sky and Tilak had other plans. Sky scored 61 on 45 balls, and Tilak Verma scored 27 on 18 deliveries.

However, this was it from the men in blue. Enters Chase, who got Tilak on a ball that chipped back in. Jason Holder took the wicket of Suryakumar and set the West Indies back on track.

Things could have gone worse, but Romario destroyed the Indian middle order with impressive bowling figures of 4-31. This contained India to 165 runs.

The Satisfactory batting performance – West Indies won.

India seemed to have a chance when Arshdeep drew first blood by dismissing Kyle for 10 runs. But this was the end of the tale for Indian bowlers. Brandon King played a kingly inning of 85 runs from 55 deliveries. Pooran supported him with 47 off of 35 deliveries.

Tilak did get Pooran out, but it was too late. Brandon and Shai steered the hosts to an 8-wickets victory.

Man of the match

Things were confusing as the jury had to look at both Shephard and Brandon for the Man of the Match award. Brandon King played a great knock, while Romario dismissing the entire middle order gave the batters a chance to play without any pressure.

The picture was now clear. It was Romario Shephard who won the Man of the Match award.

This series was important for the West Indies player. Their pride is hurt. The great team who used to thrash the other teams on the world stage was now out of the world cup race.

But, this series has shown that some fight is still left in the Caribbean.