Every match on this tour had gone to the chasing side, and Arshdeep’s 3 for 44 made India’s 223 enough in Indore

Every match on West Indies’ tour of India had been won by the side batting second, three ODIs and two T20Is. Indore broke the run. India were bowled out for 223 on the last ball of their innings on Sunday night, and it was still enough: West Indies finished on 209 for 7, India won by 14 runs, and they lead the five-match T20I series 2-1.

Arshdeep Singh was Player of the Match for 3 for 44, but the shape of the night was set by Abhishek Sharma’s 69 off 30 balls at the top of the order and a dry Holkar Stadium pitch that, unlike Ranchi two nights earlier, did not let either side hit through the line at will.

From 115 for 1 to all out

Sanju Samson was caught at midwicket in the second over for 3, and for a while it did not matter. Abhishek reached fifty off 18 balls, Ishan Kishan made 37 off 18, and India had 87 for 1 at the end of the powerplay. The second-wicket pair put on 108, and Abhishek went past 2,000 T20I runs on the way.

Then Roston Chase took two in an over. Kishan was stumped, and Shreyas Iyer went lbw for 1 three balls later. Abhishek was caught and bowled by Shamar Springer in the next over, and India had gone from 115 for 1 to 135 for 5 by the 11th over.

Tilak Varma, on 28 off 16, ran himself out after assuming a ball had gone for four and walking back towards his crease. Axar Patel was run out going for a single that was never there. Nitish Kumar Reddy added 21 off 14, and Prince Yadav’s 13 not out off six balls got India to 223, with Mayank Yadav bowled by Shamar Joseph off the final delivery. On a ground with short boundaries and a West Indies side that had chased 250 in Ranchi, it looked light at the break.

Arshdeep starts it, the spinners squeeze it

It turned out to be plenty. Arshdeep went round the wicket to Shai Hope in the second over, fired in two yorkers and then bowled him with a ball on a length. Hope had made 102 not out in Ranchi. Here he made 5.

Shimron Hetmyer, dropped on 5 off Mayank, hit back with 19 off Arshdeep’s second over and made 43 off 26 balls, but West Indies were held to 54 for 1 after six overs. Naman Dhir then did something he is making a habit of. Hetmyer hit him for six, and was bowled next ball. Kamil Pooran struck Dhir for three sixes in his third over, then holed out to Arshdeep on the boundary trying for a fourth. By ESPNcricinfo’s count, all five of Dhir’s international wickets have come the ball after he was hit for six.

Axar, whose 3.3 overs in Ranchi had cost 63 without a wicket, took Rovman Powell for 5 and kept the middle overs tight. Sherfane Rutherford, who made 84 in Ranchi, got to 32 off 20 before Arshdeep bowled him in the 18th over with the score on 174. Springer’s late 35 not out off 11 balls, with four sixes, only trimmed the margin.

Hyderabad next

India can wrap up the series in the fourth T20I at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Wednesday, 14 October. The final game is in Bengaluru on 17 October. If Indore showed anything, it is that India’s bowlers can defend a total when the surface stops helping the batters, and that the middle order has some sorting out to do after losing nine wickets for 108.

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