Top 3 talking points from the 5th T20I between India and West Indies

It was always on the cards with the kind of game that the Indian team was playing this loss was coming. The five-match T20I series between India and West Indies was poised to feature a thrilling series finale on August 13, 2023, at Lauderhill. The Men in Blue produced an incredible comeback in the two games after dropping the first two games. Therefore, both teams were aiming to finish off the series with a victory. But in the fifth T20I, West Indies trounced India by an eight-wicket margin.

With this victory, the West Indies side also bagged the series 3-2 and it is in fact the first T20I series loss for the men in blue in the last 25 months. But with this loss, there have been various questions that have risen regarding the approach of the Indian team, and at the same time, credit goes to the West Indies team for the way they have played the series. Let us look at the Top 3 talking points from the 5th T20I between India and West Indies:

1. Axar Patel was not given enough overs

One of the major talking points between the fans and cricket experts was that if Axar Patel played in the squad, then what was the reason that the left-arm spinner was not given a go with the ball? In the fourth and third T20I, Patel bowled superbly in the powerplay and even took important wickets of the top-order batters.

It was to the surprise of everyone that in the fifth T20I, Axar was introduced into the attack only in the 15th over of the West Indies innings.

2. India failed to take enough wickets 

Having won the toss and electing to bat first, the Indian team posted a mere total of 165 runs in the allocated 20 overs which was below par total considering the wicket. In reply, to his total, the West Indies team did not have an ideal start as the opener Kyle Mayers was dismissed only in the second over of the match. But despite that Indian bowlers were not able to capitalize on that initial advantage and kept on bowling poorly which allowed the West Indian batter to get their eye in and then chase down the total easily.

3. Brendon King and Nicolas Pooran’s match-winning partnership

After a poor start to the innings, the duo of Brendon King and Nicolas Pooran combined together to make sure that the hosts chased down the target with ease. Both the batter stitched together a partnership of 107 runs off 72 deliveries. They rotated the strike well as hit the bad deliveries for runs. This partnership eventually ended up as a match-winning innings for the team.