Suryakumar Yadav came back into the form when the Indian team had their backs against the wall in Caribbean conditions. In the run chase on a tricky surface at Providence Stadium, Guyana, Suryakumar seemed as if he was batting on a different pitch and smashed a 44-ball 83. Suryakumar's livewire of a knock helped India win the third T20I by seven wickets and keep the five-T20I series alive.
Rovman Powell won the toss and elected to bat first. Brandon King and Kyle Mayers got the home side off to a cautious start. After powerplay overs, West Indies were 38/0. Kuldeep Yadav was targetted by both openers in his first over as he conceded 12 runs. Axar Patel got the breakthrough as Mayers went for the slog-sweep but the top-edge landed in Arshdeep Singh's hands. Mayers contributed 25 runs from 20 balls in the 55-run partnership. At the halfway stage, West Indies were 73/1.
Kuldeep in his second over troubled Johnson Charles. He went for the sweep and got out lbw after scoring 12 runs. In-form Nicholas Pooran attacked Kuldeep and hit him for a six and a four. In his last over, the left-arm chinaman bowler got his revenge but got Pooran stumped. The wicketkeeper-batter scored 20 runs from 12 balls. In the same over, King fell to Kuldeep as he took the catch off his own bowling. The opener contributed with a run-a-ball 42.
Boundaries were scarce in the slog overs. Mukesh Kumar bowled his first over in the 18th over and got the wicket of Shimron Hetmyer for a single-digit score. In the penultimate over, Powell went ballistic and hit Arshdeep for two sixes. In the final over, he hit Mukesh for a six as well. The skipper's 19-ball 40 helped West Indies post 159/5. Kuldeep was the pick of the bowlers with three-fer whereas Patel and Pandya were economical. Kuldeep also became the fastest India to 50 T20I wickets in his 34th appearance.
In the run chase, Shubman Gill got off the mark with a boundary. Debutant Yashasvi Jaiswal could not do much on debut and went for a big shot. Jaiswal got out after scoring just one run against Obed McCoy. Suryakumar made his intentions clear early on and hit McCoy for a four and six in the same over. Gill struggled to score in the powerplay overs. He tried to play a pull shot against Alzarri Joseph but the top-edge carried to midwicket fielder Charles. The opener scored just six runs from 11 balls. Tilak Varma walked out to the middle and hit two consecutive boundaries. McCoy took a beating again and conceded 17 runs in the sixth over. India were 60/2 after powerplay overs, way ahead of DLS par score.
Suryakumar got to his half-century off just 23 balls in the eighth over. He did not spare any bowler and soon India were dominating with 97/2 at the halfway stage. Meanwhile, Varma played second fiddle. He had a chance to score his fourth T20I century but he played a few shots too many. Joseph broke the partnership in the 13th over. They shared an 87-run stand for the second wicket. Suryakumar's 44-ball 83 featured 10 fours and four sixes. He also became the third Indian batter to hit 100 T20I sixes. Also, he is the joint-second fastest to 100 T20I sixes.
After Suryakumar's wicket, Varma took the centrestage. Skipper Pandya and in-form Varma ensured that India don’t suffer a batting collapse and give West Indies a chance to make a comeback. Pandya finished off the run chase in style with a six off Powell. He remained unbeaten for 20 off 15 balls. On the other end, Varma scored 49 runs from 37 balls including four fours and one six. India won the match by seven wickets with 13 balls to spare.
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