BENGALURU: All through Saturday evening, the inexorable effect of the northeast monsoon was being felt at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. The pitter-patter of raindrops was a constant theme even as around 15000 cricket fans started making their way through the turnstiles. For over two hours, they had to be content with raindrops.
When it finally relented, all the electricity was provided by the blade of the Indian batters, who had all of nine overs to protect a proud home record — coming into the deciding game of the five-match affair, the hosts' T20I set-up hadn't lost a home series since 2019. But West Indies, with a combination of Shai Hope up top, significant middle-order power, as well as some street-smart bowling, had managed to push the series into the decider.
After Hope won the toss to start the truncated nine-over contest, he had no hesitation in asking the hosts to bat first. Even as Hope's bowlers — pacers and the lone spinner — erred in line and length, Shreyas Iyer & Co. took full advantage to send the ball to all parts of the by now packed Stadium. Just when it seemed like there would be a winner, the rain acted as a killjoy by returning with full fury to signal the end of the match with the Men in Blue on 118/5 after 7.4 overs.
In the end, the series being shared between both teams was perhaps a fair result. Within the context of this being a T20I series two years before the next T20 World Cup, it's kind of hard to analyse too much. However, both sides would have had reasons to be happy as well as a touch disappointed about how it went.
From the perspective of the hosts, the absence of Jasprit Bumrah clearly showed, especially in the death overs, where the other bowlers came in for plenty of stick. In the spin department, because of Varun Chakravarthy's injury, there was no mystery element but Axar Patel further entrenched his position as the premier spinning all-rounder. The emergence of Naman Dhir, who enthralled the Bengaluru crowd with some lusty blows over the fence, could be another promising addition.
While the series is over, the sport never really stops. In less than a week, Shreyas will lead the challenge in New Zealand.
Brief scores: India 118/5 in 7.4 ovs (Kishan 30, Keemo 2/34) vs West Indies. Match abandoned because of rain.