With a 15-run loss in the 3rd T20I, India lost the three-match series against West Indies 3-0. Chasing the 140-run target, India were restricted to 124 for three in 20 overs by the World T20 champions.
Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, who put up an all-round performance remained unbeaten on 60 off 51 balls with Veda Krishnamurthy on 31 off 40 as they strove to attain the target.
The loss of three wickets in the powerplay pushed the hosts on the backfoot as they set out to chase the competitive score. After a direct hit from Stafanie Taylor ran out VR Vanitha off the first ball, Smriti Mandhana came in to bat.
Looking to make optimum use of the powerplay, Meghana launched Deandra Dottin over long on for six. In the bowler’s next over, Mandhana struck her to square leg for four, but departed hitting the bowler straight towards mid-off where Shaquana Qunityne fumbled but held on to the catch.
Krishnamurthy then joined Meghana in taking the chase forward. As the pair looked to build a stand, their running between the wickets was iffy. India’s woes continued as Veda was dropped on three near mid-off off Matthews but, Meghana departed handing a catch to deep midwicket. While India were left reeling on 32 for three in the sixth over, West Indies had made 58 without loss in the powerplay courtesy a blistering knock by Hayley Matthews (47 for 22).
India faced an uphill task as Harmanpreet joined Krishnamurthy in the middle. While both batters were in good touch, the West Indies did well to dry up the boundaries. And with little batting to follow, the pair also had to ensure that they had wickets in hand.
The captain slammed the first six of the innings when she dispatched Matthews over deep midwicket for six. With the field spread out, ones and twos were collected comfortably by the batters, but pressure continued to build as the duo strove to close in on the target. But with a required run rate around six runs, the pair had kept the match hanging in balance.
India needed 58 off the last five overs and with both the batters in the middle. While Krishanmurthy ran hard she couldn’t find the ropes. Harmanpreet too looked to pierce the gap but the boundaries were hard to come by. However, in the 17th over, the captain took the attack to the West Indies as she hit Matthews for a six near long on and followed up with a boundary through the on side to release some of the mounting pressure.
However, it was a tough ask for the batters with 40 runs required of the last 18 deliveries. Harmanpreet hit Quintyne in the 18th over as she also launched the bowler for six over deep midwicket. With the big hits, she also brought up her half-century.
With India needing 28 runs off 12 balls, Shakera Selman, brought back into the attack bowled a tight line and conceded only three runs in the penultimate over to put the visitors firmly in the driver’s seat. And with nine runs in the last over, India lost the game by a considerable margin.
Harmanpreet was also been India’s most economical bowler after West Indies elected to bat.
Matthews got the team off to a flying start while Taylor held up one end as she often does for the side while the rest of the line-up bats around her. The pair had clobbered the Indian attack in the powerplay as they scored at over nine runs per over until Poonam Yadav and Harmanpreet pegged them back with some tight bowling.
Introduced into the attack in the seventh over, Yadav ended Matthews whirlwind knock. The ball bounced off the bat and the wicketkeeper took a high one-handed catch to send back the opener. With the hard hitting batter back in the pavilion, Britney Cooper joined the skipper.
Only 29 runs came of the next six overs as the leg spinner and the captain with her off-spin plugged the flow of runs. In her first over Harmanpreet tested her opposite number and continued to maintain a stranglehold on the batters. With three-over spells each, they had kept the WI to 87 for one at the end of 12 overs.
Ekta Bisht then returned for her second spell and claimed the Cooper off the first ball to leave the opposition on 87 for two. However, in the next over, Kycia Knight who smacked Anuja Patil for three successive boundaries – through backward point, behind the wicket and on the offside - to help the team past the three-figure mark.
Brought back into the attack, Shikha Pandey who had conceded 17 runs in her first over during the powerplay kept the batters in check. India put up a better performance in the death overs conceding only 24 runs for two wickets in the last five overs to restrict the opposition to 139 for four. While Yadav claimed Knight, Jhulan Goswami accounted for Deandra Dottin.
