Indian skipper Hardik praises Shubman and Yashasvi, says they were brilliant

The 165-run opening stand between the duo ended with Gill dismissed by Romario Shepherd for 77 off 47 balls, consisting of three fours and five sixes.

Florida: Following his side’s nine-wicket win over West Indies in the fourth T20I, Indian skipper Hardik Pandya lauded openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill for their batting display.

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.

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“There are more Indians here. The way they have been supporting, they have been coming in numbers, they make sure that we give them some entertainment. There is no doubt in their (Gill and Jaiswal) skill set. Going forward, we will have to take responsibility as a batting group and help out our bowlers. Bowlers win matches. If they can get you a couple of wickets, you can control the game. Shubman and Yashasvi were brilliant. The way they ran in this heat … and … making sure they finished the job, it was very pleasing to see,” said Jaiswal in a post-match presentation.

“I like to captain how I see the game. I like to go with my instincts. We lost two games but the first game, it was our own error, we were cruising quite well, we messed it up in the last four overs and did not cross the line. We did not do much different in the next two games. All these games give us a lot of confidence. We had to pull up our socks and play good cricket, that’s exactly what the boys did.

In T20 cricket, no one’s favourite. You have to turn up and play good cricket. You got to respect the opposition. They were 2-0 up because they played better cricket than us. Tomorrow we turn up and do exactly what we did today and hope for the best,” he added.

India has levelled the series 2-2 with this win, with one more game to go, which will be played on Sunday. Electing to bat first, West Indies was reduced to 57/4 in 6.5 overs by the duo of Arshdeep Singh and Kuldeep Yadav.

Shai Hope (45 in 29 balls with three fours and two sixes) and Shimron Hetmyer helped WI cross the 100-run mark. Hetmyer finally clicked on the white-ball tour, scoring 61 in 39 balls, consisting of three fours and four sixes. He and Odean Smith (15* in 12 balls) helped WI reach a total of 178/8 in 20 overs.

Arshdeep (3/38) and Kuldeep (2/26) were the best bowlers for India, offering a cocktail of spin and pace that had WI in trouble in the initial stages. Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal and Mukesh Kumar had a wicket each.

Chasing 179, India got the start they were just looking for. Openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill took full advantage of the flat, batting-friendly nature of the surface and piled up runs, taking the team to the brink of a win single-handedly.

The 165-run opening stand between the duo ended with Gill dismissed by Romario Shepherd for 77 off 47 balls, consisting of three fours and five sixes. Jaiswal (84* in 51 balls with 11 fours and three sixes) and Tilak Varma (7*) helped India chase the total with three overs to spare.

Jaiswal earned the ‘Player of the Match’ award for his performance.