IND vs WI

11:10 PM local time and IST: For the first time on this tour of India for the West Indies, has a score been defended! A big reason for that was lack of dew. But, the Indian bowlers, under pressure, executed their plans much, much better and managed to keep the West Indies batters quiet. That made a big difference. Now, with India taking a 2-1 lead in the series, the razzmatazz moves to Hyderabad on Wednesday. The first ball will be bowled at 7:00 PM local time and IST. Do join us for that match, it should be another cracker of a game! This is Sourabh and Bidipto taking your leave. Keep following Sportskeeda! 

Arshdeep Singh (Player of the Match, 3/44 in 4 overs): "It was pretty nice when the ball reverses! I enjoyed it! Even in the dew, I enjoyed the challenge, but couldn't take the wickets. There is no such player who can be termed as the leader of the attack in our group, we are pretty chilled out and keep ourselves motivated. I like it when batters come hard at me, I relish the opportunity to get them out! It's about sharpening your skills and adapting to the changes, as games come thick and fast." 

Shreyas Iyer (India captain): "It was wonderful when the bowlers are on the mark! They were decisive in their execution, and each and everyone was ready to take on the challenge. We got a phenomenal start with the bat! Abhishek (Sharma) and Ishan (Kishan) were brilliant, as always. We did lose wickets, but we didn't take anything easy and made sure not to slow down. Even with Prince (Yadav) coming in and getting those runs in the end, that helped. We have two games coming up at two relatively high-scoring venues, and we know what they are capable of. So, we have to be up for it." 

Shai Hope (West Indies captain): (what went wrong?) So many things we can put a finger on. Another cricket game with fine margins. With the ball, we could have executed better and a few runs we let away around the boundary. The way we came back into the game was commendable. You look at that partnership (between Abhishek and Ishan) from the outset, it was a very dangerous one. Roston did what he does best, the guys finished really well and gave us a chance to chase it down. (on their opening partnership) Once you lose wickets in the powerplay, it is always going to put you back, need to get a good opening partnership to lay the platform but can't put a finger on one or two guys, it is a collective effort from the batting unit. Small margins as I said, 14 runs, you never knew on any other day. (did the dry ball play a part in the second innings?) It did play a part. When Arshdeep bowled his second and third over, it did tail back a bit more. Credit to the Indian bowlers, they executed their yorkers really well and showed us how to do it.

Nitish Kumar Reddy: (how important was it to win defending a total?) A win is a win. We are all proud of our efforts out there. It is not easy to bowl on this ground. We executed perfectly and the results came our way. (what were the bowling plans when he came on to bowl?) At that time, they needed 14 runs per over. We thought if we give six singles off the over it would be a win for us, we were not going for a wicket. Sometimes being defensive is also the attacking option. (bowling with a dry ball) It is a very clear plan from the skipper, to just stick to our plans and be brave in those crucial overs. (thoughts about their batting performance) We started really well, a few unlucky dismissals here and there for our team but in the end Prince getting us those crucial runs made the difference.

10:42 PM local time and IST: India win by 14 runs! 

Abhishek Sharma 69 (30) | Arshdeep Singh - 3/44 (4)
Shimron Hetmyer 43 (26) | Roston Chase - 2/38 (4)

There was no dew, and so, bowling found some leeway tonight. India made the most of that, executed most of their yorkers and managed to defend their 1st innings score. But West Indies ran them close again, to bring an end to yet another high-scoring affair, here in Indore! 

It was known that runs will flow at the Holkar Stadium, especially in the 2nd innings, and flow they did. But, India were able to eke out dot balls at the right time and pick up wickets at very much regular intervals to stem that flow of runs. 

Mayank Yadav bowled out tonight, and was impressive once again, in terms of his pace and his hard-length bowling! Naman Dhir, interestingly enough, bowled 3 overs, did give away 39 runs, but took 2 wickets, to keep India in the game through the middle overs. 

But, credit where credit is due and both Prince Yadav and Arshdeep Singh were superb with their yorker-length deliveries, not giving the batters the chance to get under the ball and go for sixes! 

Fielding was hot and cold. Abhishek Sharma dropped a rather simple catch at fly-slip. Sanju Samson was not at his best on certain occasions behind the stumps. There was a misfield here and there. However, when it mattered, the Men in Blue were able to do a good job and keep things tight.

Shai Hope didn't click tonight, but there were lots of starts. Shimron Hetmyer, Kamil Pooran, Quentin Sampson, Keemo Paul and Shamar Springer tried their best, but none of them went on to get a big score. That proved to be the difference, with no one getting to even 50. 

19.6 Axar Patel to Shamar Springer, SIX! Springer finishes off with some fireworks but India become the first team to defend a total in this white-ball series and they take a 2-1 lead in this 5-match series too winning this third one by 14 runs. Short and wide from Axar, Springer hangs deep in his crease and thumps it a long way over long-off for a biggie. Too little too late for West Indies, India take a very important win.

19.4 Axar Patel to Shamar Springer, SIX MORE! Springer is going down fighting, he can surely take some confidence out of this. Gets under the length, hangs back and pumps it over deep mid-wicket

19.3 Axar Patel to Shamar Springer, FOUR! Does not matter now. Short and wide, Springer smacks it over point off the backfoot and collects four more

19.2 Axar Patel to Shamar Springer, and a dot! That should do it for India. The crowd know it too. Looks to pump it off the backfoot over the off side, it was flat and angled in, could only get an inside edge back into body