India won the third T20I by 7 wickets to stay alive in 5-match T20I series.
India’s T20I captain Hardik Pandya came in for some heavy criticism as he denied Tilak Varma his second consecutive fifty in T20Is, as he hit a six to win the match when two runs were needed for Men in Blue.
Batting first, West Indies had put up 159/5 in 20 overs with Rovman Powell (40*) and Brandon King (42) being the top run-getters. For India, Kuldeep Yadav picked 3/28.
In reply, Suryakumar Yadav led the way with 83 runs and he added 87 runs for the third wicket with Tilak Varma, who remained 49* in 37 balls. Hardik Pandya made 20*, and hit a six with 2 runs needed to win the game.
On the 5th ball of the 18th over, Hardik hit a maximum on the bowling of Rovman Powell, taking India across the line.
Though the series now stands 1-2 for India, with the last two matches to be played in Florida on August 12 and 13, Hardik Pandya has been severely criticized for his ‘selfish’ deed of hitting a six when Tilak needed one run to complete his fifty, which would’ve been his second in T20Is.
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