"Yashasvi and Gill were brilliant," Hardik Pandya credits openers for the 4th T20I win

Yashasvi Jaiswal was awarded Player of the Match for his unbeaten 84.

With an eye on winning the series, India and West Indies will play the ‘final’ T20I at the same venue in similar conditions. Hardik Pandya-led Team India with a huge 9-wicket win over West Indies in the 4th game of the series have leveled the scoreline read 2-2. Indian openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill almost got India home but Gill departed on 77 runs in 47 balls adding 165 runs for the first wicket.

Yashasvi Jaiswal remained unbeaten on 84 runs along with Tilak Varma who came in to complete the formality. Jaiswal and Gill equaled the record of the highest opening partnership for India with that of Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul. Batting first, West Indies scored 178 runs and gave India 179 runs to chase. With a superb opening partnership, India got home in the 17th Over. 

‘I back my instincts as captain’ – Hardik Pandya

Indian captain Hardik Pandya was in full praise of India openers and their aggressive partnership for the first wicket. While talking about Jaiswal and Gill, captain Hardik Pandya said, “Brilliant, As we have seen, there’s no doubt in their skillset. They just needed to spend some time between the wickets. Going forward we have to take more responsibility as a batting group and support the bowlers. I have always believed Bowlers win matches. Yashasvi and Gill were brilliant, very pleasing to see.”

Hardik Pandya also said that he likes to go with his instincts as a captain. He added, “I like to captain how I see the game, it’s about how the game is going and I like to go with my instincts. Yes, we lost the first two games but it was our own errors.” 

Powell says ’10-15 runs short’

West Indies captain Rovman Powell was disappointed after the back-to-back losses but still hopeful of winning the final T20I in the series. He also said that on a good batting wicket, they were 10-15 runs short. Powell said, “I think it was a good batting surface and we were 10-15 runs short, but having said that I think Hope and Hetmyer played really well. I think there’s quality bowling in our unit but we didn’t stick to our plans and no matter who is bowling, when you don’t stick to plans against quality batters they will always put you under pressure.” Rovman is repeating his one statement from game one and rightly so, it all comes down to how West Indies play spinners in the middle overs. Kuldeep curtailed the West Indies batters with his spell of 2 for 26 in 4 overs. 

Jaiswal won Player of the Match

Youngster Yashasvi Jaiswal earned his first-ever Player of the Match award in white ball cricket. Jaiswal made his debut in the previous T20I game but he was out cheaply on just one run. On Saturday, He went on to score unbeaten 84 runs in 51 balls with 11 fours and 3 sixes to win Player of the Match. Talking about his innings, Jaiswal said, “It is not easy but I just love to go out and enjoy myself. I would love to thank Hardik bhai and the support staff, the way they have spoken it really had an impact on my game.”

When asked about how his experience was batting with Shubman Gill, Jaiswal answered, “It was a really amazing experience. We knew from the beginning which bowler we should be taking on.” They both added 165 runs for the opening wicket in 15 overs. 

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