India finally defended a total on West Indies’ tour, beating the visitors by 14 runs in the third T20I in Indore on Sunday to take a 2-1 lead in the five-match series.
Abhishek Sharma’s explosive 69 off 30 balls powered India to 223 before Arshdeep Singh claimed three wickets to restrict West Indies to 209-7. India’s bowlers held their nerve on a pitch where low bounce made clean hitting difficult, ending a run of matches in which the team batting second had prevailed.
Abhishek struck six fours and five sixes, setting the pace after Sanju Samson fell for three in the second over. He attacked Roston Chase in the spinner’s second over, hitting two sixes and a four, before Ishan Kishan joined the assault.
The pair added 108 runs for the second wicket from just 40 balls, taking India to 115-1 in 8.2 overs. Kishan made 37 from 18 deliveries, but Chase removed him and Shreyas Iyer in quick succession to trigger a middle-order collapse.
India lost momentum through a series of dismissals, including run-outs for Tilak Varma, who scored 28, and Axar Patel, who made 20. Nitish Kumar Reddy contributed 21, but India could not build on their explosive start and finished on 223.
West Indies’ chase suffered an early setback when Arshdeep dismissed captain Shai Hope. Shimron Hetmyer made 43 from 26 balls and Kamil Pooran scored 42 from 27, but India kept taking wickets at key moments.
Naman Dhir removed Hetmyer soon after being hit for six, then dismissed Pooran after the batter had struck three sixes in an over. Axar Patel also helped slow the scoring in the middle overs.
West Indies remained in contention through Sherfane Rutherford and the lower order, but India’s quicks executed their plans at the death. Arshdeep and Prince Yadav used yorkers to limit the late charge, while Nitish Kumar Reddy took a key wicket.
The 14-run victory gave India their first successful defence of a total on the tour and put them one win away from securing the series.
