Basseterre (St Kitts & Nevis), Aug 2: Indian bowling unit was disciplined for the better part before Avesh Khan and Arshdeep Singh’s relative inexperience saw West Indies put up a competitive 164 for 5 against India in the third T20 International here on Tuesday.
Left-handed Kyle Mayers (73 off 50 balls) did punish the Indian attack with eight fours and four sixes in his kitty as he added 50 in 7.2 overs with skipper Nicholas Pooran (22 off 23 balls) after an opening stand with Brandon King that yielded 57.
While Avesh Khan’s (0/47 in 3 overs) poor show stuck like a sore thumb, the other bowlers put up a more than decent show without being exceptional.
Arshdeep Singh (1/33 in 4 overs) is being prepared as death overs specialist for his ability to bowl those wide yorkers.
However, in pressure cooker scenario of international cricket, the Punjab lad is still a work in progress.
The last two overs yielded 27 runs courtesy Shimron Hetmyer (20 off 12 balls) and Rovman Powell (23 off 14 balls).
The revelation in India’s bowling attack was Hardik Pandya, who used the change of pace effectively, mixing his cutters and slowers with an occasional block-hole delivery, which accounted for King.
Having hit a half-century in the last game, King looked scratchy during his run-a-ball-20 before Pandya castled him. His final figures of 4-0-19-1 with 12 dot balls was certainly important in the final context of the innings. During the middle overs, Ravichandran Ashwin (4-0-26-0) was also impressive as he also had a dozen of dot balls to his credit.
Deepak Hooda, who was brought back into the playing XI in place of Ravindra Jadeja, bowled a steady over with the new ball while Bhuvneshwar Kumar (4-0-35-2) was steady like he always is on most of the occasions.
He got rid of Pooran with extra pace and bounce and then removed the dangerous Mayer with a fuller delivery that gripped, with Rishabh Pant taking both catches.
Arshdeep, despite being hit for a six and a four by Mayers, stuck to his gameplan, coming mostly wide off the crease and executing those wide yorkers or low full-tosses, which are difficult to get away with. (PTI)
