Jemimah, Veda help IND blank WI 5-0 in T20Is

The 117-run stand between Jemimah Rodrigues and Veda Krishnamurthy and two early strikes by Anuja Patil saw India beat West Indies by 61 runs at Providence Stadium in Guyana on Wednesday (November 20) in the fifth T20I, thereby whitewashing the hosts in a T20I series for the first time.

Under a new captain, India finally won a toss in the T20I series and opted to bat. But both Shafali Verma and stand-in captain Smriti Mandhana were out pretty cheaply. Verma was caught and bowled by Hayley Matthews while Mandhana holed out to long off.

It was then all about Rodrigues and Krishnamurthy, even though the West Indies bowlers kept a lid on the scoring. They played themselves in before opening up towards the end. When Matthews, Anisa Mohammed, initially, and then Afy Fletcher were in operation, Rodrigues and Krishnamurthy were happy to rotate strike by tapping the ball around the corner.

West Indies’ fielding wasn’t their strongest suit in the series. But on Wednesday, the fielders dived around and contributed to the bowlers managing to keep the batters quiet. However, at the death, there were a few mis-fields and missed chances.

Krishnamurthy was a beneficiary of a dropped chance, when Matthews grassed one. Soon, Shemaine Campbelle, the wicket-keeper, then missed a chance in the same over. The Indian batter soon brought her second T20I fifty in just 43 balls - her first in 28 innings across formats. Jemimah then followed suit soon. But in a bid to up the scoring rate, she perished for 50.

 

Jemimah Rodrigues made a vital contribution in the top order. ©Getty Images

 

The pair had added 117 runs for the third wicket, India’s highest stand for that wicket in T20Is, surpassing that of Kaur and Krishnamurthy also against West Indies back in 2016. Krishnamurthy eventually finished unbeaten on 57.

In reply, it was the same old story for West Indies. Although Natasha McLean began with a maximum, she was the first one to depart, holing out to deep mid-wicket off Patil. That started a mini procession, with Chedean Nation being dismissed in the same over for a duck.

Kyshona Knight, sent in to open the batting ahead of Hayley Matthews, struggled to acuumulate runs, before a late flurry of boundaries saw her finish with 22 off 39 balls. Apart from her, Shemaine Campbelle was the only other batter to enter double figures.

Patil finished with a couple of wickets for just three runs while Radha Yadav, Poonam Yadav, Pooja Vastrakar and Harleen Deol picked up one apiece.

Brief Scores: India 134/3 in 20 overs (Veda Krishnamurthy 57*, Jemimah Rodrigues 50) beat West Indies 73/7 in 20 overs (Kyshona Knight 22; Anuja Patil 2-3) by 61 runs. PoM: Veda Krishnamurthy. PoS: Shafali Verma.