Following his side’s T20I series win against India, West Indies all-rounder Romario Shepherd said that to dismiss Sanju Samson, the plan was to hit the wicket and they had planned to tempt Suryakumar Yadav into hitting straight down the ground to get his wicket.

Nicholas Pooran and Brandon King’s blistering batting display at Lauderhill helped West Indies clinch a five-match T20I series 3-2 against India here at Central Broward Regional Park Stadium Turf Ground on Sunday.

“It makes me feel happy because we ended up on the winning side. So thanks to Nicholas Pooran and Bradon King for playing so well. Right now from the ODIs to now, I have been hitting my areas and bowling well from the start to the end. [On bowling plans] Especially to Sanju, the plan was to hit the wicket and to Surya to get him to hit straight down the ground. [On the series win] It meant a lot to us especially because we’ve been going through some hard times in the past couple of months so to win against a team like India it means a lot for us and the fans,” said Shepherd in the post-match presentation.

Electing to bat first, India was off to a bad start, losing openers Yashasvi Jaiswal (5) and Shubman Gill (9) quickly, reducing Men in Blue to 17/2. Following these two quick hiccups, Suryakumar Yadav had a 49-run partnership with Tilak Varma (27 in 18 balls with three fours and two sixes). After the dismissal of Tilak, it was all pretty much downhill for India. Suryakumar scored 61 in 45 balls (four boundaries and a six), but Sanju Samson (13) and skipper Hardik Pandya (14) failed to provide much support to the number one-ranked T20I batter from the other end. Wickets kept falling and India finished at 165/9 in their 20 overs.

A four-wicket haul by Romario Shepherd (4/31) put brakes on India’s progress during the innings, as he got crucial wickets of Samson and Pandya. Akael Hosein (2/24) got both the openers while Jason Holder (2/36) got the crucial wicket of Suryakumar.

In the chase of 166, WI lost Kyle Mayers (10) cheaply. But a 107-run stand between Brandon King and Nicholas Pooran (47 in 35 balls, with one fours and four sixes) took the match completely from India, before Tilak dismissed Pooran. King, who scored 85* in 55 balls with five fours and six sixes, joined forces with Shai Hope (22* in 13 balls) to take WI to a win with two overs to spare.

Tilak and Arshdeep took a wicket each for India.

Shepherd’s four-fer earned him the ‘Player of the Match’ award.

Pooran got the ‘Player of the Series’ award for scoring 176 runs in five matches with the best score of 67 and a strike rate of almost 142. (ANI)