After two consecutive below-par performances, Suryakumar Yadav finally found success at the top of the order as India defeated the West Indies by seven wickets in the third T20 International at Warner Park to grab a 2-1 series lead.
Suryakumar took off, slamming a 44-ball 76 as India overcame West Indies' score of 164/5 for the loss of just three wickets and an over to spare on a day when the visitors experienced a huge injury scare with Rohit Sharma withdrawing hurt while batting due to a back spasm.
Even though he didn't really contribute much with the bat or the ball, all-rounder Hardik Pandya nevertheless managed to record the uncommon double of 500 runs and 50 wickets.
After a fifty-run opening stand between him and Kyle Mayers, Pandya bowled Brandon King to become the sixth man from India to reach 50 T20I wickets. The last player to reach the benchmark was Ravindra Jadeja, who accomplished the record in the previous T20I.
But Hardik Pandya also achieved the double of 500 runs and 50 wickets in T20Is, becoming the 11th player in men's cricket and the 30th overall to accomplish the feat. Pandya has 806 T20I runs overall.
Deepti Sharma, who has 521 runs and 65 wickets in T20Is, is the only other Indian to have completed this unusual double.
Hardik, who first played for India in 2016, is the most recent male player to reach this feat among those who have participated in T20Is, according to the ICC.
In limited-overs cricket, Pandya has been in strong form with the ball this season. He has eight T20I wickets, six ODI wickets, and two four-wicket hauls.
Pandya bowled a 4-0-19-1 session on Tuesday in St. Kitts to contain the West Indies. The West Indies openers put up a half-century partnership before he gave India the breakthrough.
Nicholas Pooran, the captain of the West Indies, lamented the inability of his bowlers to make quick wickets.
"I believed that we needed to take early wickets, but we didn't. I thought we should have pulled it back early in the power play, but we were unable to secure that wicket "Pooran added.
"We thought we had played enough at the midway point of the game. India utilised the pitch brilliantly while bowling well. We believed it would be challenging to keep scoring on the wicket since it was a little bit on the slower side. Once more, the outcome of the game would have been different if we had taken early wickets."
Brief scores: West Indies 164/5 in 20 overs (Kyle Mayers 73, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2/35) lost to India 165/3 in 19 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 76, Rishabh Pant 33 not out) by seven wickets.