India vs West Indies 4th T20I Highlights: Jaiswal, Gill help India cruise to series-levelling win

“We would have batted first as well, I don’t think much will change. I think the boys turned up very well, they were excited and at the same time, they realized that they have to show some more hunger as well. Everyone chipped in, the bowlers did the job and then Tilak and Surya came in and closed the game with the bat. Yeah, same team. Our spinners have that kind of wicket-taking knack, they are aggressive with their intent as well, which I like. For us, we keep things simple, and we don't let the intensity drop.”

Brandon King, Kyle Mayers, Shai Hope, Nicholas Pooran(w), Rovman Powell(c), Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Romario Shepherd, Odean Smith, Akeal Hosein, Obed McCoy

Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya(c), Sanju Samson(w), Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mukesh Kumar

West Indies win the toss and choose to bat. Pandya says India would have batted first as well. 

“Coming to the ground dimensions, behind me, it is a 65 metres hit, the opposite is 67 metres, and down the ground is 70 metres. The pitch looks like an absolute beauty, there isn’t any grass on the surface but it has a nice sheen to it. The average score on this ground is 165. We are in for a high-scoring game,” says Samuel Badree in his pitch report.

There are chances of rains dampening the afternoon in Lauderhill. It is unclear as of yet as to how much of a hindrance that will be, if at all, to having a full match.

Out of the nine T20I series that the India have played against the West Indies, the latter have won just twice. Both of those victories happened to be in series in which only one match could be played. The first was a two-match series in Lauderhill in which one was washed out and the other was won the Windies. The second was a one-off T20 match in Kingston, Jamaica in which West Indies won by 9 wickets despite having to chase a target of 191. It was thanks to an unbeaten 125 off 62 balls by Evil Lewis.

Suryakumar Yadav will certainly go down in history as one of the greatest T20 batters India has ever produced. He is also perhaps the first big example of just his different ODI and T20 formats have become. SKY himself has admitted that his ODI numbers are not good at all but how India will be hoping and wishing he finds himself, especially after seeing what he did to the West Indies attack in the 3rd T20I.

India's bowling coach was all praise for Mukesh Kumar, who has made his debut in all three formats in this tour. “Very happy with the way he has progressed; the thought process, the discussion we had with him and his approach towards the game is fabulous. You need someone like him to come here on a tour and play against tough opponents on a different wicket which is never easy. But the way he has gone about it and the character he has shown (makes us) extremely happy. Going forward, since we know he is capable of playing all three formats, we need to be smart with his workload management. He has played a lot of domestic cricket and got quality skills out there,” Mhambrey said on Friday.

In the six T20Is that India and West Indies have played against each other in Lauderhill, the latter have won just once.

Tilak has only made his T20I debut and he has played only three matches thus far but there are some who feel that he has shown enough to be considered a candidate for that contentious No.4 spot. In the three matches he has played thus far, Tilak has scored 139 runs at an average of 69.50 and strike rate of 139.00.

India's opening partnership scores over the course of this series have read 5, 16 and 6. The first two scores led to Ishan Kishan being replaced by the highly rated Yashasvi Jaiswal but the latter made a false start to his T20I career in the third match. 

Brandon King, Kyle Mayers, Johnson Charles, Nicholas Pooran(w), Rovman Powell(c), Shimron Hetmyer, Romario Shepherd, Roston Chase, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph, Obed McCoy, Oshane Thomas, Odean Smith, Shai Hope, Jason Holder

Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya(c), Sanju Samson(w), Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mukesh Kumar, Ravi Bishnoi, Umran Malik, Ishan Kishan, Avesh Khan

The series started off in the Caribbean islands, took a brief stop in the South American nation of Guyana and now moves to the United States. All along, India have pretty much been caught out by their own weaknesses in batting depth and the West Indies' quality. The danger of a first series loss since 2016, and a first ever series loss in a bilateral T20I series in which more than one match has been played remains and India will hope that their batting lineup can hold up strong as it did in the third T20I, instead of how it turned out in the second and first.