India defeated the West Indies cricket team by 14 runs in the third T20I at the Holkar Stadium in Indore on Sunday (October 11) to claim a 2-1 lead in the five-match series.
India's strong batting display, led by Abhishek Sharma's explosive 69 off 30 balls, laid a massive foundation to post 223 all out in 20 overs. Besides Abhishek, Ishan Kishan made 37 off 18 balls, while vice-captain Tilak Varma scored 28 off 16 balls. Nitish Kumar Reddy (21 off 14) and Axar Patel (20 off 14) also played useful knocks.
Despite a spirited chase from the West Indies—anchored by Shimron Hetmyer (43) and Kamil Pooran (42)—Arshdeep Singh's impressive bowling figures of 3 for 44 helped restrict them to 209/7.
Speaking during the post-match presentation, Indian skipper Shreyas Iyer praised his bowlers for their execution.
“Well, it was wonderful, honestly. When the bowlers were up the mark, they were pretty confident in terms of what they want to execute, and the clarity was very much visible when I was interacting with them. So they were decisive in their execution, and I also feel that when I was passing on the ball to them, each and every one, they were ready to take on the challenge, and that's what we want,” Shreyas said.
He also hailed Abhishek and Ishan's 108-run partnership for the second wicket, crucial contributions from Tilak and Axar in the middle-order and Prince Yadav's vital cameo of 6-ball 13* towards the end.
“That was a phenomenal start, what we got from Abhishek - those crucial runs in the powerplay. We know what he can offer and then Ishan coming in and taking on the bowlers. He has been simply remarkable in the last couple of months. And then in between also, we never let West Indies take on the charge, even though we kept on losing wickets. We steadied the ship in the middle order as well. That took us to a commendable total of 223. Even Prince coming and playing that cameo at the end, those were useful runs I felt,” Iyer stated.
The captain also highlighted the quality within the West Indies batting, which he feels are "game changers" and how important it was to stay proactive and positive against them.
“And yeah, with West Indies team, I personally feel that you cannot take them lightly because you know there are a lot of game changers in the team, and anyone can win the match. So yeah, we got to stay positive throughout the game and see to it that we are not complacent at any point of time,” he remarked.
On the remaining two matches at Hyderabad's Uppal Stadium and Bengaluru's Chinnaswamy Stadium, Iyer said: “Both of them are high-scoring grounds, but it's important that we stick to our process and the routines which we have been following, and also see to it that we are offensive enough in our approach and the attitude is top-notch.”
