IND v WI, 5th T20I— ‘King’ Saves His Best Knock to Seal Series (3-2) in Favour of West Indies Against India

‘King’ Pooran Offers ‘Hope’ to ‘Shepherd’ West Indies’ ‘Chase’ in a Thumping Fashion

Florida, 14 August: West Indies opener Brandon King scored a match winning knock of 85* runs from 55 balls, laced with six 6s and five 4s, in Lauderhill, Florida, against India on Sunday.

Romario Shepherd was adjudged Player of the Match for claiming four wickets while Nicholas Pooran Player of the Series for consistently scoring important runs for his side.

West Indies beat India by 8 wickets in the fifth and final T20I to win the decider, with 12 balls to spare.

In pursuit of 166 against India, Brandon King (85*) and Nicholas Pooran (47 in 35) batted like champions to help West Indies achieve a series victory (3-2) in style.

Though West Indies lost Kyle Mayers early in the piece after scoring 10 runs in 5 balls, Pooran and King took all Indian bowlers—Hardik Pandya, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav and Mukesh Singh—to the cleaners. King was harsh on Chahal and Yadav in particular. Chahal conceded 51 runs in four overs.

In the first power play, WI were 61/1 and in the first 10 overs their team total was 96/1, needing another 70 runs from the remaining 60 balls. They were 171/2 in 18 overs in the end.

Lightning and drizzle stopped play when WI were cruising along, 117/1 in 12.3 overs, with Pooran unbeaten on 46* in 32 balls and King 54* from 38 balls. Both batters targeted specific bowlers. Pooran went after Pandya, Arshdeep, Pandya, Yadav and Chahal. He fell soon after the rain break to newcomer Tilak Varma.

For WI, Romario Shepherd took four Indian wickets, conceding 31 runs in his four overs.

Earlier, India lost both opening batters—Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill—in quick time but Surya Kumar Yadav rescued India’s sinking ship with intelligent power hitting.

Jaiswal and Gill, who forged a 165-run partnership in the 4th T20I played in Lauderhill failed to make any impact in the series decider, as they scored 5 and 9 runs respectively.

Young middle-order batter Tilak Verma joined Surya Kumar Yadav and made 27 runs from 18 balls before being caught and bowled by Roston Chase, with India 66/3 in the 8th over.

Yadav kept the momentum going by taking Alzarri Joseph to the cleaners. He was 53 in 39 balls when rain gods intervened to stop the game in the 16th over. After the match resumed, Surya Kumar Yadav was out for 61 runs. This was his second fifty in the T20I series against West Indies.

Sanju Samson made only 13 runs while skipper Hardik Pandya made 14 runs from 18 balls.

India after winning the toss decided to bat first in the series decider, a decision which didn’t prove fruitful.

After losing the first two T20Is to hosts West Indies in the ongoing 5-match series, India staged a remarkable comeback by winning the next two.

India were under pressure after West Indies sealed victory in the first two games, as the hosts needed one more win to claim the series but the young Indian side fought back well to challenge West Indies. Eventually, WI took a sweet revenge in the last T20I and by winning the bilateral series.