Coming into this series, Shreyas Iyer was under some pressure, having not scored a half-century in his last 10 T20I appearances. All that changed on Tuesday as the Indian skipper slammed a sensational maiden T20I century, 102* (43b, 10×4, 6×6), to power the Men in Blue to a thumping eight-wicket win over West Indies at the Ekana Stadium here on Tuesday.
Chasing 172, India found themselves in trouble at 35 for two after losing openers Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson cheaply.
With the match finely poised, Shreyas took charge in the final over of the PowerPlay, smashing Shamar Joseph for a hat-trick of boundaries to signal his intentions.
The Mumbai batter’s strength has always been his ability to find boundaries while playing orthodox shots without risk. He unsettled the West Indies bowlers by shuffling in the crease to access acute angles. In the ninth over, he did that repeatedly to Romario Shepherd, lofting the medium-pacer over covers for three back-to-back hits to the fence.
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At the other end, Ishan Kishan chipped in a few boundaries, but he only had to rotate the strike to his captain, which he duly did.
Once he got past his half-century, which came off 28 balls, Shreyas cut loose, taking just 15 deliveries for the next 52 runs. Against Akeal Hosein, he backed away and lofted the left-arm spinner for a six and four over cover. In the 14th over, the dam broke when Shreyas plundered 23 off Matthew Forde, including three maximums. Fittingly, the skipper closed out the chase in style, depositing Roston Chase down the ground and completing his ton with 5.2 overs to spare.
Earlier in the evening, Indian tweakers led by debutant Naman Dhir (three for 31) wreaked havoc through the middle phase of the innings, scalping seven wickets to bundle out West Indies for 171.
For West Indies, Shai Hope and Sherfane Rutherford did the heavy lifting, scoring valiant half-centuries.
While Hope got the team off to a strong start, the hosts pulled back in the final over of the PowerPlay when Axar Patel (two for 26) delivered a double-wicket maiden.
From 44 for three, Hope and Sherfane Rutherford consolidated through a 63-run fourth-wicket stand. Dhir and Kuldeep then ran through the middle-order as the visitors slumped from 107 for three to 135 for eight.
Rutherford, though, got his team to a respectable total, punishing some poor bowling from the Indian quicks in the death overs, but against a rampaging Shreyas it was too little too late.
Published on Oct 06, 2026
