After Suryakumar Yadav’s ferocious fifty, the Indian seamers blasted in tandem as the hosts cruised to a 17-run victory against the West Indies in the third and final T20I on Sunday. After Deepak Chahar walked off the field with a hamstring injury after failing to finish the third over, Harshal Patel (3/22), Venkatesh Iyer (2/23 from 2.1 overs), and Shardul Thakur (2/33) did an excellent job of defending India’s 184/5 total. Nicholas Pooran, the wicket-keeper hitter, continued his outstanding form by hitting his third consecutive fifty (61 off 47 balls; 84, 16), but it was not enough as West Indies were reduced to 167 for nine.
In Test cricket, Rohit Sharma outlasted Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane.
A timeless Mohammed Rafi song says, ‘Kaun jaane kis ghadi, waqt ka badle mizaaj’ [loosely translated, nobody knows when time will change its mood]. It’s a universal reality, but it was especially fitting for Indian cricket on Saturday, when head selector Chetan Sharma named Rohit Sharma as captain of a Test team that omitted Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane. Following the BCCI’s consent to the Cricket Association of Bengal, the third T20I between India and the West Indies on Sunday will draw a larger audience (CAB). The CAB had demanded that spectators be allowed in the top blocks of all of Eden’s stands. The cricket board, on the other hand, has given permission for the third and final game of the series.
“As negotiated with other OB, you can open for the last T20 match vs West Indies at Eden,” BCCI president Sourav Ganguly wrote to CAB head Avishek Dalmiya in an email.”
