WI VS IND - 3rd T20I, India tour of West Indies, 2023

Much needed win for India. They have kept the series alive and the deciders will be played in Florida. West Indies were undone by Suryakumar's brilliance and must not look too much into it. They still have the lead in the series and need one win to seal it. The remaining two games will be played in the US this weekend. Join us for the conclusion of this tour. That's all for today. Until next time, goodbye and stay safe..

STAT: 12th Player of the Match award for Suryakumar Yadav in 51 T20Is - joint second most for India along with Rohit Sharma, only behind Virat Kohli's 15. Since Surya's T20I debut no other player has won more than nine Player of the Match awards.

Hardik Pandya: Very important (to win). We spoke as a group that these three games will be exciting. Two losses or two wins does not change the long term plans. We have to show we are ready when it comes to such (must-win) games. Nicky (Pooran) didn't come out to bat and that allowed us to keep our pacers back, also allowed Axar to bowl his four overs. If Nicky wants to hit, let him hit me and that was the plan, I enjoy such competition. I know he is going to hear this and will come hard at me in the fourth T20I. As a group we have decided to bat with seven batters and we have to take responsibility, like it happened today if the batters score runs then you don't need someone at number eight. As Surya mentioned, they (SKY and Tilak) play together and spend time together, good to have someone like SKY in the team and when he takes responsibility it sends a message to the others.

Rovman Powell: We were 10-15 runs short. But having said that, credit to the batting unit especially the opening partnership, that's the kind of start what we asked for. In hindsight you can say that (sending Pooran at number 3) but we wanted to give Charles an opportunity, we know what Pooran can do and what kind of form he is in. We bowled with too much pace on the ball and that made it easy for the Indian batters. We have a few days gap and we have to come up with better plans.

Suryakumar Yadav | Player of the Match: It was really important to be myself when I went in to bat in the powerplay, that's what the team management also wanted. I have practised these (ramps and scoops) strokes a lot and I love doing that. We (himself and Tilak) have batted together for a long time, we both understand how each other bats and the way he batted, it gave me a lot of confidence. It was a great innings from him (Tilak) at the other end. It was running on the back of my mind (that India had never lost three T20Is in a row) but at the same time we spoke in the team meeting, our captain said someone needs to put their hand up and win the match, glad I was able to do that.

Most T20I runs for India in first three innings
172 Deepak Hooda
139 Suryakumar Yadav/ Tilak Varma
109 Gautam Gambhir
*Tilak Varma is the second Indian batter after Suryakumar Yadav to register 30+ scores in each of his first three T20I innings.

13:47 Local Time, 17:47 GMT, 23:17 IST: India's batting was the worry in the first two games and that was mainly because their best batter - Suryakumar Yadav - had not come to the party. Today SKY soared and kept taking the game away from West Indies. Jaiswal had a forgettable debut as he threw his wicket away in the first over, but that brought Suryakumar to the crease and his first two balls were a four and a six. The tone was set and he just needed someone to support him from the other end, Tilak Varma did that perfectly. The pair were the right mix of aggression and calmness, Suryakumar kept the boundaries flowing while Varma rotated the strike. They added 87 runs for the third wicket and by the time Suryakumar got out, the game was decided. Varma stuck around and got the team over the line with skipper Hardik. Presentations coming up..

Powell to Hardik Pandya, SIX, India win by 7 wickets. Hardik finishes with a big six and that leaves Varma on 49*. The southpaw had his chance to get to the landmark but he couldn't time the ball in this over. But Hardik does and seals it in style. Slower ball and Hardik just waited a bit, swings through the line and sends it well beyond long-off

Powell to Tilak Varma, 1 run, fuller and angled across, Varma goes hard on the drive and ekes out an inside edge to short fine

Powell to Hardik Pandya, 1 run, slower and banged into the wicket, Hardik waits and pulls to mid-wicket

Powell to Tilak Varma, 1 run, off-pace delivery, Varma knocks it to the off-side and quickly crosses over

Powell to Hardik Pandya, 1 run, another miscue from Hardik. Slower ball and he throws the bat on the big shot, slices it towards deep extra cover

Rovman Powell, right-arm fast medium, comes into the attack

Alzarri Joseph to Hardik Pandya, 1 run, nails the yorker around leg-stump, Hardik digs it out to deep mid-wicket. Joseph finishes with good figures, 4-0-25-2

Alzarri Joseph to Hardik Pandya, 2 runs, in the air and safe. Hardik wanted to finish with a couple of glory hits. He goes for a wild heave and slices it off the outer half towards extra cover, gets enough bat to clear a backtracking Akeal

Alzarri Joseph to Tilak Varma, 1 run, very full and at the stumps, Varma clears his front leg and flicks to deep mid-wicket

Alzarri Joseph to Tilak Varma, no run, slower ball close to off, Varma waits and taps it to backward point

Alzarri Joseph to Tilak Varma, 2 runs, fuller and around off, Varma works it between deep mid-wicket and long-on, easy brace

Alzarri Joseph to Tilak Varma, no run, short ball around leg-stump, Varma swivels and throws the kitchen sink on the pull, misses

Alzarri Joseph [3.0-0-19-2] is back into the attack