IND vs WI: When I Score Runs I Am A Batting All-rounder And When I Take Wickets I Am A Bowling All-rounder - Axar Patel
Hardik Pandya led India in the fifth T20I. He won the toss and elected to bat first.
Both teams made significant changes in order to provide game time to their remaining squad members.
Pandya, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer, and Kuldeep Yadav replaced regular captain Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, Suryakumar Yadav, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Batting first India scored 188 runs on the back of Iyer’s half-century who opened the innings for the first time in T20 internationals. Pandya and Deepak Hooda also contributed vital runs in the death and middle overs respectively.
I Tried To Back By Strenght And Bowl Line To Line: Axar Patel
West Indies also made four changes, with Shamarh Brooks, Odean Smith, Keemo Paul, and Haymarh Walsh replacing Brandon King, Kyle Mayers, Akeal Hosein, and Alzarri Joseph.
Odean Smith who went for 15 runs in his first over returned in the end overs to pick 3 crucial wickets for his team.
West Indies got off to the worst possible start in their chase as they lost 3 wickets to Axar Patel in the powerplay.
West Indies lost 4-50 and from there it was impossible for them to make a comeback. They eventually lost the match by 88 runs and the series by 4-1.
After the game, Patel was declared the Player of the Match,” I was just focussing on keeping things simple, instead of trying too many things. Was just looking to use the surface to my advantage. The surfaces (in this series) have been helpful for me, so that has proved advantageous to me. Both in the ODIs and T20s, the pitches were fairly the same. I don’t mind people calling me just an all-rounder, if I do well with the ball, I’ll be a bowling all-rounder, if with the bat, then a batting all-rounder”, Patel in the post-match presentation.
