IND vs WI 4th T20I Highlights: Team India's T20 captain Hardik Pandya is a pleased man following his team's series-levelling win over West Indies in IND vs WI 4th T20I on Saturday (August 12) in USA's Florida. India's nine-wicket win over West Indies is the first time when Men in Blue defeated the hosts by eight or more wickets in a T20 International match. Ebullient fifties from openers Shubman Gill 77 (4 balls) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (unbeaten 84 off 51 balls) helped India, after going down 0-2, level the five-match series 2-2. But for captain Pandya it was just the beginning as urged the batters to take more responsibility going forward to support the bowlers. The fifth and final T20I will be played on Sunday (August 13).
"Gill and Jaiswal were brilliant. There is no doubt over their skillset. They just needed to spend some time between the wickets.
"Going forward we have to take more responsibility as a batting group and support the bowlers. I've always believed bowlers win matches," said Pandya after the match.
Pandya was understandably elated by the team’s effort.
"We lost two games but in the first game it was our own errors. We were cruising and in the last four overs we slipped. We spoke about how these kinds of games show our character.
"The boys took it (defeats) in their stride. The two games (after the first two defeats) we played reflected that we pulled up our socks and played some good cricket,” he added.
Man of the match Yashasvi Jaiswal, who notched up his maiden T20 fifty in 4th T20I and before this had scored a ton against the same opponents on his Test debut, said he batted as per the team's requirements.
"I just try to play how the team needs and how I can express myself. I think of how quickly I can score and how many runs I can get in the power play. Of course, reading the wicket and the situation (matters), but my intent is always to score runs," said Jaiswal.
"I would love to thank Hardik bhai and the support staff, the way they have spoken had an impact. I just like to go out and enjoy myself," he said.
West Indies captain Rovman Powell said batsmen need to stick to their plans and play India spinners better.
"We didn't stick to our plans. We always knew this series would come down to how we play against spinners (of India)," said Powell.