Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal put on a commanding show against the West Indies, registering a record 165-run opening partnership, and taking India to victory in the fourth match of the series in Lauderhill today (August 12).
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Chasing a stiff target of 179 to keep the series alive, India made a mockery of the run chase as Gill and Jaiswal added 165 runs for the first wicket, equalling India’s joint-highest opening partnership in T20Is. While Gill was dismissed for 77 off 47 balls, Jaiswal remained unbeaten on 84 off 51 balls and saw India to the finish line with as many as eighteen balls and nine wickets to spare.
The other occasion where India added 165 runs for the first wicket in a T20I was in 2017 against Sri Lanka when Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul teamed up to stitch together 165 from 76 balls while batting first in Indore. That makes this effort by Gill and Jaiswal the highest opening partnership for India in T20Is, both away from home, and while chasing.
In fact, this is just the fourth time that an Indian pair has registered a 100-plus opening partnership while chasing in men’s T20Is, and the first time since 2021.
Gill, who was struggling for form and had recorded three successive single-digit scores in the first three matches of the series, finally broke through in the fourth. This was his second fifty-plus score in T20Is after his century against New Zealand earlier this year in Ahmedabad.
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Jaiswal, playing only his second T20I, took the game by the scruff of the neck as he came out all guns blazing in the powerplay. His first 15 balls yielded 24 runs including five fours. By the end of the first six overs, India were 66-0, their joint-highest powerplay score in T20Is since 2022.
He finished unbeaten on 84, the fourth-highest score by a left-handed opener for India in men’s T20Is, and the second-highest while chasing after Shikhar Dhawan’s 92 against West Indies in 2018. This was also just the second unbeaten fifty-plus knock by a left-handed Indian opener in T20Is after Gautam Gambhir’s 56 not out against Australia in Melbourne in 2012.
Earlier in the day, Shimron Hetmyer and Shai Hope helped take the hosts close to 180 after they were stuttering at 57-4. Hope scored 45 off 29, while Hetmyer scored 61 off 39. Arshdeep Singh took three wickets, but Kuldeep Yadav was the pick of the bowlers for India, going for just 26 runs from his four overs and picking the big wickets of Nicholas Pooran and Rovman Powell in the same over.
The fifth and deciding match of the series will be played at the same venue tomorrow (August 13).
