NEW DELHI: Team India did not want to give West Indies any chance to fight back in the third T20I in Indore. Abhishek Sharma revealed that the team discussed staying ruthless in the huddle as the hosts defended their total in Indore on Sunday.India secured a 14-run victory to take a 2-1 lead in the five-match series. After scoring 223, the hosts restricted West Indies to 209/7, with Arshdeep Singh taking three wickets and Naman Dhir claiming two.However, West Indies kept the pressure on India until the final over. Shamar Springer smashed an unbeaten 35 off just 11 balls, including three sixes and a boundary, but could not take his team over the line.Abhishek, who led India’s batting with 69 off 30 deliveries, spoke about the team’s approach during the post-match press conference.
Abhishek reveals what India discussed in the huddle
Abhishek said India knew West Indies had the ability to turn a match around quickly. The team had witnessed this in the previous game and wanted to avoid giving the visitors another opportunity to stage a comeback.“I think the West Indies is the kind of team against whom you can never say that the match has swung completely in our favor. That was in our minds, because we saw in the last match as well that whichever batter walks in, given the conditions here, it’s very easy for them to take the game away from anywhere. So that was in our minds; even when wickets were falling, the talk in the huddle was that we need to remain ruthless from here on, not let them off the hook, and not give them even a single chance to make a comeback,” he said.
Springer’s attack keeps India on their toes
Springer’s late hitting showed why India were determined to stay focused rather than assume the match was already won.Springer made India’s task difficult with his aggressive batting towards the end of the chase. Abhishek admitted he was surprised by some of the shots the West Indies batter played and stressed the importance of executing plans under pressure.“If you saw today, the way Springer batted, I got really surprised by the way he played those shots; they weren’t easy shots. In that case, you have to be on your toes all the time. Even if they are 50 for 5, they have the capability to turn things around. We were very much prepared this time that we had to be ruthless. Even if we had a good powerplay with the ball, we couldn’t afford to give them even one bad ball. We just wanted to execute our plans, and that’s what we did,” he said.India’s bowlers managed to defend the total despite Springer’s late assault. The victory put the hosts ahead in the series, with the fourth T20I scheduled to take place in Hyderabad on Wednesday.
Abhishek surpasses Suryakumar Yadav’s record
Abhishek also achieved a significant milestone during his innings in Indore. He became the fastest batter to score 2,000 runs in men’s T20I cricket in terms of balls faced, reaching the mark in 1,024 deliveries.He broke the previous record held by former India T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav, who had taken 1,164 balls to reach 2,000 runs. Former Australia captain Aaron Finch is third on the list, having needed 1,283 deliveries.Abhishek’s record-breaking effort helped India put up a challenging total and eventually secure an important win in the five-match series.
