After his team’s impressive 59-run win over West Indies in the fourth T20I, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma backed pacer Avesh Khan, saying the team understands his talent. Solid innings from Rishabh Pant, Rohit Sharma and Sanju Samson were complemented by concerted efforts from both the Indian fast bowlers and spinners, especially Avesh Khan and Arshdeep Singh. It helped India register a 59-run win over West Indies in the fourth T20 International on Saturday. “I think it was good how we played the game. The conditions weren’t easy but we got a good score. The way we batted, a lot of thought was put into it and it was pleasant to watch. The pitch was slow enough for us. The bowlers did. Used to their advantage. I thought 190 was a good score, but the kind of batting that West Indies have, no score is good. We played good cricket to get the win today,” Rohit said in the post-match conference.
#teamindia Performing well with the ball.
West Indies chased 116/8 after 15 overs.
follow the match https://t.co/DNIFgqfRJ5 #vind pic.twitter.com/5yr3rzrAxB—BCCI (@BCCI) 6 August 2022
“The batsmen were really smart and the bowlers bowled in pairs to get wickets. It put the brakes on their scoring. We understand Avesh’s talent. One can have one or two bad games, but we love him. Want to keep skill in mind. We want to give the boys enough play time in between. He used the conditions and his height really well, which was great to see. I want to thank all those guys too Joe comes; I know it’s hot and it’s not easy to sit there and watch the game. There’s another day to go,” he said.
Coming into the match, India scored 191/5 in their first innings. Rishabh Pant (44), Rohit Sharma (33) and Sanju Samson (30) made the biggest contributions for the Men in Blue with the bat. Despite such a solid score, West Indies did not allow any big partnership between Rohit and Suryakumar Yadav (24) apart from the 53-run opening stand. Alzarri Joseph (2/29) and Obed McCoy were the key bowlers for the Windies.
Chasing the target of 192, the West Indies innings looked terrible from the start. A double attack from pacer Avesh (2/17) and spinner Axar Patel (2/48) left the Windies struggling at 82/5. Captain Nicholas Pooran (24) and Rovman Powell (24) made good contributions but were far from helping Windies win the game. Later, Arshdeep Singh eliminated some of the lower middle-order/lower-order batsmen to deliver an economic spell of 3/12. West Indies were bundled out for 132 and lost by 59 runs.
After conceding runs in the last two matches and taking only one wicket in those two matches combined, Avesh Khan won the ‘Man of the Match’ award for his spell. The fifth and final T20 match will be played in Florida on Sunday.