WI vs IND 2023: West Indies vs India, 4th T20I - Talking Points and Who Said What?

India made a terrific comeback in the fourth T20I of the five-match series against West Indies on Saturday, August 12 in Florida as they beat the hosts by nine wickets. Courtesy of their win, the Men in Blue levelled the series 2-2 with one game left. After opting to bat first, West Indies posted 178/8 in their allotted 20 overs courtesy of brilliant knocks from Shae Hope (45 off 29) and Shimron Hetmyer (61 off 39). Arsheep Singh (3/38) and Kuldeep Yadav (2/26) were among the wickets for India.

In reply, India had a huge mountain to climb with not much experience in their batting order. However, the young guns didn’t disappoint as openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill walked out to the middle in fourth gear. The duo took the bowlers on inside the powerplay and raced to their fifties in no time.

After completing their milestones, both shifted gears and began thrashing the West Indies bowlers all around the park who had no answer to their butchery. As a result, India chased down the target in 17 overs with Jaiswal top scoring with 84* (51) while Gill scored 77 (47). Jaiswal was awarded Player of the Match for the second time on the tour after his dream Test debut.

Talking Points from the 4th T20I between West Indies and India:

1. Arshdeep Singh’s brilliance with the ball

After being taken to the cleaners in the previous game, Arshdeep made a terrific comeback as he picked 3/38 in four overs. The left-arm seamer picked up the wickets of Kyle Mayers, Brandon King, and well-set Shimron Hetmyer to stop the run flow throughout the innings.

2. Shimron Hetmyer returns to form

After failing to go big in his last five T20I innings, Hetmyer finally managed to score a well-compiled half-century with his brilliant knock of 61 (39) to hold the innings together. The southpaw smacked three fours and four sixes in his innings to help his side reach a good total.

3. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill’s record-levelling stand

The opening duo added 165 runs for the first wicket off just 93 balls and almost finished the game on their own. They recorded the joint highest opening partnership for India in T20Is equalling KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma’s feat from 2017 against Sri Lanka. Both batters complemented each other well and formed a formidable right-left combination at the top.

Indian skipper Hardik Pandya said:

There are more Indians here. The way they have been supporting, they've been coming in numbers, they make sure that we give them some entertainment. There is no doubt in their (Gill and Jaiswal) skill set. Going forward, we'll have to take responsibility as a batting group and help out our bowlers. Bowlers win matches. If they can get you a couple of wickets, you can control the game. Shubman and Yashasvi were brilliant. The way they ran in this heat ... and ... making sure they finished the job, it was very pleasing to see. I like to captain how I see the game. I like to go with my instincts. We lost two games but the first game, it was our own error, we were cruising quite well, we messed it up in the last four overs and didn't cross the line. We didn't do much different in the next two games. All these games gives us a lot of confidence. We had to pull up our socks and play good cricket, that's exactly what the boys did. In T20 cricket, no one's favourite. You have to turn up and play good cricket. You got to respect the opposition. They were 2-0 up because they played better cricket than us. Tomorrow we turn up and do exactly what we did today and hope for the best.

West Indies skipper Rovman Powell said:

It's a pretty good batting surface. We were maybe 10-15 runs short. Having said that, Hetmyer and Hope played well. There's quality bowling in our unit. We didn't stick to our plans, you'll always find under pressure against quality batters. From the start of the series, we always knew it's gonna come down to how we bat against spin. We didn't bat well in the middle overs. If we can improve against spin, then we'll do well. It's 2-2, both teams have played well to reach where they are. Tomorrow is the final and in a final, I'd back West Indies. I am feeling okay and ready to the lead the guys again tomorrow.

Player of the Match Yashavi Jaiswal said:

It's not easy, I am happy to go out there and express myself. I would like to thank the support staff and Hardik bhai, they've shown faith. That shows so much impact on my mind. I try to play how team needs and how I can express myself towards the plan. I try to score quickly, how many shots I can play in the powerplay and put my team in a nice shape. Reading the wicket, reading the situation, how I can take the game deep everything is important. My intent is always to score runs. I have played a lot of balls against them (Holder and McCoy in the IPL), helped me to read them. It (partnership with Gill) was really amazing the way we were talking and the way we were taking singles and understanding each other. He batted really well. The way he was rotating the strike, it's really important to build the partnership. I want to thank everyone coming here and supporting us in this heat. Thank you so much.