India extended their lead to 4-0 in the five-match series by edging out West Indies by five runs in a rain-affected contest in Guyana on Sunday.
Anuja Patil (2/8) was handed the ball in the final over of the innings with the Windies needing 13. Patil gave away just seven as India piled on the misery on the hosts, whose wretched record in T20Is continued; they have now lost eight on the bounce.
Anisa Mohammed sent India to bat first following a long rain delay, following which the match was reduced to a nine-over contest. The Windies spinners kept taking regular breakthroughs to keep the run-scoring in check. Hayley Mathews (3/13), Afy Fletcher (2/12) and Sheneta Grimmond (2/10) kept chipping away. As for the Indian batters, there was very little application as slogging the ball out of the park took precedence.
Barring Pooja Vastrakar (10) none of the batters reached double figure and Windies would have been happy with the way things progressed at the break.
The Indian spinners soon came to the party and once again, it was Deepti Sharma who led the charge for the visitors. West Indies took a more conservative approach compared to their opponents with the emphasis on having recognised batters in the final overs. Despite getting only the odd wicket compared to the Indian innings, there was plenty of dot-ball pressure that was created and the West Indian batters limped towards the close.
Radha Yadav (1/8) bowled the penultimate over and dismissed Chinelle Henry in the first ball. But, Natasha McLean’s boundary eased the pressure somewhat and it was all to play for in the final over. McLean, though, was run out courtesy of Veda Krishnamurthy’s accurate throw and the Windies could only get singles and twos, once again coming short against their skillful opponents who are on a roll.