India outclassed a depleted West Indies side to finish the series with 88-run victory in the final T20I of the five-match series in Florida on Sunday. India clinched the series 4-1 with some phenomenal performances throughout the tournament.
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However, India also aced the post-match celebration as they celebrated their series win in a unique style. Indian players hopped on a buggy for a victory lap around the venue and stole the show at the Broward County Stadium.
#TeamIndia doing victory lap in a Buggy post game in Florida. Fans loved it.
🚗 : Rohit Sharma
P.S: Guest appearance of @PeterDellaPenna in this video sporting red hawaiian shirt and cowboy hat. Watch till the end. 😎 #WIvIND #Cricket @ImRo45 @DineshKarthik @ashwinravi99 pic.twitter.com/X2XPZrA9eU— Santu Mehra Sikar 🅾️➕ (@SantuMehra51) August 8, 2022
Rohit Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin and Dinesh Karthik also arrived at the medal ceremony in the vehicle. “Sharma, DK & Ashwin arrive to the medal presentation in style. Congratulations to @BCCI on the series win,” wrote Windies Cricket.
Sharma, DK & Ashwin arrive to the medal presentation in style. Congratulations to @BCCI on the series win. #WIvIND pic.twitter.com/HDwGkImaiT
— Windies Cricket (@windiescricket) August 7, 2022
In the fifth T20I against West Indies, Hardik Pandya took the charge of the team as Rohit Sharma was rested for the match. Shreyas Iyer became the top-scorer for India as he played a powerful knock of 40-ball 64, including eight fours and two sixes. Deepak Hooda also made crucial contribution as he scored 38 off 25. While Iyer and Hooda made significant contributions, Pandya also added few runs to the total as he scored 28 off 16, which helped India to post an imposing total of 188-7.
In the run-chase, West Indies dwindled for just 100 in 16 overs. Axar Patel took out early wickets as he dismissed opener Jason Holder (0), Shamarah Brooks (13) and Devon Thomas (10) with three arm balls, leaving West Indies under pressure at 33-3.
India’s bowling was phenomenal on Sunday in the fifth T20I as for the first time in men’s T20, all 10 wickets were taken by spinners. Ravi Bishnoi took four wickets for 16 runs in 2.4 overs, Axar Patel had 3-15 in three overs and Kuldeep Yadav 3-12 in four.
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India wrapped up the T20 series with two wins in two matches at Florida, and a 4-1 series win over the Caribbean side.
Yadav was quite impressive with the ball as he plucked three including opposition skipper Nicholas Pooran. For match-winning performance, Patel got the player-of-the-match award.
In the post-match presentation, stand-in captain Pandya talked about fearless approach of players. He said, “The kind of talent the players we have and the freedom we’re getting, this is the New India. I can see players playing with freedom and not worrying about failing. And when you do that, you tend to do special things.”
“I wanted to give Axar the ball early because he is used to bowling in the powerplay, he is capable of holding his own and then with the wrist spinners, I knew we could get the wickets. It’s about how we can get better from here,” he added.
While on the other side, West Indies tasted defeat in T20Is as well. They did manage to win one game in the series but looked very average in all the other games.
After the loss, West Indies captain Nicholas Pooran said, “We were just not good enough. We didn’t learn from our mistakes. We just weren’t up to the challenge, just didn’t put enough partnerships. To come up against tough teams, we need to be good in execution.”
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