Shreyas Iyer web ST

Picture Credit: Twitter

It was certainly a nerve-wracking contest on Saturday with India securing a victory by three runs against West Indies at Trinidad. Chasing 309, the hosts got a great start with Kyle Mayers hitting 75. The likes of Shamarh Brooks (54) and Brandon King (46) were impressive to keep West Indies in the game.

Ultimately it came down to West Indies needing 15 off six balls with the duo of Romario Shepherd-Akeal Hosein already having threatened the visitors with their ability to play big shots. Indian fast bowler Mohammed Siraj, who was seen limping during the death overs, was given an opportunity to defend the runs for the team.

Siraj was terrific to execute his toe-crushing yorkers. However, the inside edge of Shepherd on the third ball went for a boundary, which got the Caribbean team back into the contest. In the penultimate delivery, the diving effort from Sanju Samson helped India to save a certain boundary. With five needed off the final ball, Shepherd could only take a single and India won the match.

BCCI took to Twitter to share a video interaction of Shreyas Iyer with Siraj, who displayed nerves of steel to win the match for the team. In a fun chat, Iyer revealed that the crowd wanted him to drop the catch in the final few overs. But, Iyer responded by copying the Caribbean style of dance, after completing a catch of Brooks, which tilted the match in India's favour.  Both the cricketers had a great laugh about the incident.

 

What transpired in the first half?

In the first half, the Indian team got off to a strong start with Shikhar Dhawan and Shubman Gill at their absolute best to time the ball in the powerplay overs.  After the lifting of fielding restrictions, the duo consolidated in a great fashion.

Gill was run out on 64, while Skipper Dhawan was dismissed on a well-made 97. Also, Iyer hit a fifty and became the second-quickest Indian to reach 1,000 runs in ODI cricket. The likes of Suryakumar Yadav and Sanju Samson could not contribute to a hefty fashion. It was the contributions of Deepak Hooda (27) and Axar Patel (21), which helped India to post 308 on the board.