SPORTS

Rohit Sharma, Rahul Dravid have given India players more freedom and security, says Hardik Pandya

“Ro gives you a lot of flexibility and freedom which is his strength throughout his captaincy stint whenever I have played with him,” Hardik Pandya said after India took a 2-1 lead in the five-match series with a seven-wicket win in St Kitts.

“Here as well, a lot of credit goes to him and Rahul Dravid the way they have got the team together and making sure a lot of positive mindset comes in and players are feeling secure; they are not looking over their shoulder; making sure they are getting ample chances; they are getting told as well if they are not playing, and that is something which is commendable.”

Suryakumar Yadav's blistering half-century and fine cameo of unbeaten 33 by Rishabh Pant guided India to a seven-wicket win over West Indies in the third T20I of the five-match series at Warner Park, St Kitts on Tuesday (August 2). Chasing a target of 165, Men-in-Blue got off to a great start as their openers Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav started their game by playing aggressively.

Rohit gave India a quick start but then retired hurt in the second over after seemingly pulling a muscle in his waist or side. Shreyas Iyer then came to bat on the crease and tried to anchor the innings with the opener Suryakumar. The star batter of India, Suryakumar brought up his half-century in 26 balls.

First the match was delayed by 2 hours due to the players not receiving their luggage on time. First it was delayed to 10PM (IST) with 9:30 PM as toss time. Shockingly, it has been delayed again and scheduled for 11PM (IST). Neither BCCI or Windies cricket social media handles have updated of second delayed news till now, but the livestreaming site Fancode for the India tour of West Indies 2022 have stated, "It is now supposed to start at 11 PM, which means the toss should be at 10:30PM. It will still be a 20 over game."

Fans were not pleased with the match getting delayed twice and took social media expressing some angry reactions.

India have a win and a loss in the campaign with the last group match to be played against Barbados on Wednesday

Smriti Mandhana finishes off the proceedings in style as she hammers that touch fuller delivery, outside off to the cow corner boundary. India get off the mark in CWG 2022 with this win. They beat Pakistan by 8 wickets

Omaima Sohail castles Meghana. The spinner bowled that length ball, on to the stumps and Meghana who came down the track tried to go for slog but completely missed the length and the ball rattled the stumps behind

India beat West Indies by 68 runs in the opening T20I on Friday at the Brian Lara Cricket Stadium. Asked to bat, India posted 190 for 6 with skipper Rohit Sharma top-scoring with 64 off 44 balls. Dinesh Karthik managed a quickfire 19-ball 41. For West Indies, Alazarri Joseph had best figures of 2 for 46 while left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein was the most economical, giving away only 14 runs in 4 overs with a wicket in his kitty. The visitors then restricted West Indies to 122 for 8 in 20 overs with Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravi Bishnoi and Arshdeep Singh taking two wickets apiece.

The Men in Blue will come into the fixture after clinching a thumping 3-0 victory against their Caribbean opponents in the ODI series. The visitors are expected to make multiple changes to their squad as big names like skipper Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are set to return to the T20I team.