India cricket got an amazing victory over the West Indies in the third T20I, thus remaining alive in the five-match series on Tuesday. Trailing 0-2, India put out a solid performance as they restricted the hosts to 159 runs at the loss of five wickets in Guyana before chasing the target down with seven wickets remaining. Suryakumar Yadav, who endured a series of low scores in white-ball leg against the Windies, was the star of the day for India, while Tilak Varma scored 49 runs in 37 balls as he continued on his strong show with the bat. The Windies had made a cautious start to their innings after deciding to bat, and it wasn't until the 11th over that their star hitter Nicholas Pooran took the crease.
In the post-match presentation, Hardik said that "Nicky didn't come out to bat, and that allowed us to keep our pacers back and 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."
Interestingly, Hardik persisted with Kuldeep against Pooran despite the Chinese spinner conceding a six and a four against the batsman in the previous over.