IND vs WI 3rd T20: Abhishek, Arshdeep to the fore as India wins a batathon to go 2-1 up

After the batathon in Ranchi, it was Indore’s turn to celebrate a festival of runs.

But this time though, the result was different. At the Holkar Stadium possessing pocket-sized boundaries, India kept intact its spectacular four-year streak of not losing back-to-back T20Is on home soil as it defeated the West Indies by 14 runs on Sunday.

Asked to set a target, the Men in Blue breached the 200-run mark yet again, recording 223 courtesy of opener Abhishek Sharma’s blast (69, 30b, 6x4, 5x6). While the West Indies batters kept themselves within touching distance for most part of the chase, they eventually could not pull off an encore, their pursuit ending at 209 for seven.

That the red-hot Shai Hope fell cheaply – missed one completely from Arshdeep Singh (three for 44) to have his stumps rearranged – did not help the Caribbean outfit’s cause.

Naman Dhir (two for 39) did the job with his secondary skill by removing set batters Shimron Hetmyer and Kamil Pooran. The off-spinner removed Hetmyer after the ball deflected off the southpaw’s pads and onto the stumps and had the last laugh against Kamil in a phase that included three sixes from the opener.

Earlier, Abhishek’s street-smart approach in the PowerPlay paid rich dividends.

The left-hander, who had been dismissed in his 20s by off-spinner Roston Chase in the first two games, had a few sighters before going on the rampage. The 26-year-old showed once again why he is the ‘Dada of off-side’ in the shortest format, making enough room to find and clear the boundary between sweeper cover and long-off with elan.

Abhishek was the protagonist in the 108-run second-wicket alliance (40 balls) with Ishan Kishan, which followed the early departure of Sanju Samson. But once Chase inflicted a double blow on the home side with the scalps of Kishan and skipper Shreyas Iyer in the ninth over, the visiting team marched right back into the contest.

By striking at regular intervals – the Men in Blue went from 115 for one to 223 all out – West Indies did not allow India to operate in the gear that Abhishek drove at. The stretch included the punishment imposed on Tilak Varma in the 17th over, by when Shreyas and Co. lost all their frontline batters.

The casual attitude and not-so-great phase, however, did not haunt India in the end as the host went 2-1 up in the five-game series.