Thank you everyone for joining us this evening. The fourth T20I in Lauderhill (Florida) is on Saturday. We will see you then. Meanwhile if you want to follow some more cricket, head over here for some Commonwealth action between NZ and Sri Lanka. On behalf of Chandan Duorah and Sid Monga, this is Sreshth Shah saying ta-da!
3.35pm Presentation time. Badree is the interviewer.
Player of the Match Suryakumar Yadav: ” (His fastest T20I fifty – 26 balls) Really happy. When Rohit went inside, it was important for someone to bat 15-17 overs. Was myself and expressed myself. (Pitch slower?) Little bit. It was important that’s why for someone to bat deep. (Opener role) Really loved it because I have done it in the IPL as well. Just backed myself and enjoyed it.”
Losing captain Nicholas Pooran: (Where it went wrong?) I felt that we had to get early wickets, didn’t happen. (Satisfied with total) We felt we had enough. India bowled well, Ashwin and Hardik bowled well. They used the pitch well, wicket was on the slower side. Was happy with 165 and felt we were in the game. (Watchful start?) The way we bat, we lose wickets in the middle overs. It was important for us to make partnerships. We lost the match but we did a few positives – like the partnerships. Felt we were 10-15 runs short, early wickets could’ve changed the game for us though.
Winning captain Rohit Sharma: My body is OK, we have a few days in between so hopefully it should be OK. (Pleasing aspect) How we bowled in the middle overs. That was crucial. They were about to get a quick partnership. We used the condition and our variations really well. And then how we chased. It was quite clinical. When you watch it from the outside you felt there wasn’t much risk taken. (Suryakumar’s innings) It is very important that if you get a start in this format, you should convert it. It does well for the team. The 30s and 40s look good, but when you get past 70-80 and get a hundred as well then you’re scoring those runs for the team. Good partnership with Iyer. When you are chasing a target like that anything can happen. It was not an easy target and the pitch had something for the bowlers. It was important for us to pick the right shots off the right balls.”
PD: “Another area where the Windies lost the tour was the fact that they bowled way too full and at too much pace, not enough deliveries in the 6 to 8 metre mark with fingers rolled over the ball “
3.30pm India cruise to victory, the total never under worry despite Rohit Sharma retiring hurt early. Suryakumar Yadav dazzled us with his eight fours and four sixes to score 76, Shreyas Iyer made a circumspect 27-ball 24 and Rishabh Pant put the finishing touches with a 26-ball 33.
So where did West Indies lose the game? Probably in the fact that two of their top three batters couldn’t get strike-rates of 100+. Brandon King’s 20-ball 20 and Nicholas Pooran’s 22-ball 23 undid Kyle Mayers’ 53-ball 70. WI scored only 28 runs in six overs in the middle overs. Interestingly, this is the highest total successfully chased in Basseterre in T20Is.
Nandagopal: “Relieved to see Rohit in the dugout and not the treatment table!”
Mayank Shekhar : “This is one of those matches where one outstanding innings made all the difference in the match, else it was closer than the scorecard suggests. Well done SKY.”