India walked into the third T20I at the Holkar Stadium in Indore on Sunday with one name circled on their plans sheet: Shai Hope. The West Indies captain had been the standout batter of the tour, piling up back-to-back centuries in the ODIs before a half-century in the first T20I and an unbeaten 102 in the second. By the end of the second over in Indore, he was back in the pavilion for five, and the man who removed him, Arshdeep Singh, walked away with the man of the match trophy.
Arshdeep finished with 3 for 44, adding two more wickets to Hope’s, and played his part with the bat too, making 11 that included a towering six. India won the match by 14 runs, defending a total of 223, and took a 2-1 lead in the five-match series.
The plan that worked
What made the spell stand out was not just the numbers but how deliberate it was. Arshdeep said the team had identified Hope as the danger man before a ball was bowled, and the coaches had worked through exactly how to bowl at him.
“Before the match, we had planned how to keep things tight to him and when you execute that plan in the match, it feels good when you get the result. I am grateful to the coaches for working through the plan and they told me that I can use this in the match and that thing got executed,” Arshdeep said in a video posted on bcci.tv on Monday.
He was quick to spread the credit. “I bowled very well. Mayank kept the pressure from the other end and all the six bowlers, all chipped in and bowled very well. It feels good when you get a little pressure for executing plans. So, it was good fun,” he added.
The third wicket may have mattered even more than the first. Sherfane Rutherford was threatening to take the match away from India when Arshdeep removed him, a strike that came at exactly the moment the chase could have tipped.
Context India’s bowlers will appreciate
There was a wider backdrop to Arshdeep’s evening. India’s bowlers have been on the receiving end throughout this tour, in the ODIs and the T20Is alike, on pitches that have offered them little. The conditions have been blunt enough that head coach Gautam Gambhir said such wickets were enough to spoil the careers of the bowlers.
Against that, a planned, disciplined spell that removes the opposition’s in-form captain inside the powerplay is worth more than the figures suggest. Hope, who had scored an unbeaten 102 in the second T20I, managed just five in Indore.
The apology nobody expected
Arshdeep’s night was not without its awkward moment. He contributed 11 with the bat, including that six, but a miscommunication in the middle with Axar Patel cost the all-rounder his wicket. The left-arm pacer did not dodge it afterwards.
“If we talk about batting, then the first thing I would like to say is ‘sorry to Axar bhai… I got you run out’. In batting, I keep trying but results are few and far between. The ball connected well and (went for a six). With the amount of trust the coaches show in us, we need to deliver in batting as well and score a few runs down the order. That is why working on batting is important,” Arshdeep said.
It was a refreshingly honest note from a player whose batting keeps India’s tail alive but rarely dominates headlines. The apology, delivered unprompted, said as much about the dressing room’s mood as the wickets did.
Abhishek Sharma sets the platform, and a record
India’s 223 was built at the top, and Abhishek Sharma’s 69 off 30 balls was the engine. It was not the usual explosive start, either. India managed only 13 runs off the first 14 balls of the innings and lost Sanju Samson for a six-ball 3 in that period. Abhishek admitted he had been cautious by design.
“It was there in my mind that they had a plan against me. Obviously, an offspinner [Roston Chase] bowled in the first over. So it was just a battle between him and me. I gave him respect in the first over because I think he’s bowling really well in this series,” Abhishek said after the game.
Midway through the third over he cut loose, driving through cover-point for four and then lofting Chase for two sixes. His fifty came off just 18 balls, his 14th in T20 internationals. With Ishan Kishan, who made a brisk 37 off 18, he added 108 runs off only 40 balls for the second wicket, the stand that laid the platform for the massive total.
The innings carried a milestone too. Abhishek became the sixth Indian men’s cricketer to reach 2,000 T20I runs, and the fastest in men’s cricket to get there in terms of balls faced. He now has 2,036 runs in 65 T20Is at an average of 32.83 and a strike rate of 195.95, with three centuries and 14 fifties, and a highest score of 135 not out. Only Rohit Sharma (4,231), Virat Kohli (4,188), Suryakumar Yadav (3,272), Hardik Pandya (2,288) and KL Rahul (2,265) sit above him among Indians.
His 2026 has been relentless. He has made 921 runs in 32 matches this year at a strike rate of 206.50, with one century and eight fifties. That century, a 108, is the fastest T20I hundred by a batter from a Test-playing nation. He has also hit 68 sixes in T20Is this year, level with Suryakumar Yadav for the most in a calendar year, and he has cleared the rope once every 6.55 balls compared with Suryakumar’s one every 9.13. The Indore fifty was the seventh time he has reached fifty inside the first six overs of a T20I; no other batter has done it more than twice.
‘Ruthless’ was the word in the huddle
West Indies still made India sweat. Chasing 224, the visitors finished on 209 for 7, and Abhishek admitted the dressing room never treated the game as done.
“West Indies is such a team, you can never say that the match has come to us against them. This was also in our mind, because we saw in the last match that the batters who come, the conditions here, it is very easy for them to take a match [away] from anywhere,” he said.
“So it was in our minds, when we were playing, we were talking about this in the huddle that we will be ruthless, we will not leave, and we will not give a single chance for a comeback.”
He singled out Shamar Springer’s batting as proof of the threat, saying India were “really surprised” by the difficulty of the shots he played. “If they are 50 for 5 as well, I think they have that capability to turn things around for themselves. In that case, we were very much prepared this time,” Abhishek said.
Pujara’s Gayle comparison
Abhishek’s form has now drawn a comparison few Indian batters receive. Former India batter Cheteshwar Pujara, speaking on JioStar, said the opener belongs in the same conversation as West Indies great Chris Gayle when T20 batting is discussed.
“Nobody thought that he would cross such a big milestone so quickly. But the way Abhishek has performed, I think he is probably one of the best T20 players the Indian team has had so far,” Pujara said. “His name will be remembered for a long time. When we talk about the T20 format, we immediately think of Chris Gayle from the West Indies. Abhishek has that kind of ability.”
Pujara also pointed to the maturity Abhishek showed in Indore, taking a few balls early even though “five-six balls is a lot of time for him”, and noted that the opener has played a lot at Hyderabad, where the fourth T20I will be played.
What comes next
India lead the series 2-1 and a win in the fourth T20I in Hyderabad on Wednesday would seal it with a match to spare. For Arshdeep, the Indore evening was a reminder of what he offers when a plan and an execution line up: the wicket that matters, taken early, on a ground where bowlers have spent the tour getting hit. “Good fun,” he called it. India’s coaching staff will settle for more of the same in Hyderabad.
FAQ
What were Arshdeep Singh's figures in the third IND vs WI T20I?
Arshdeep Singh took 3 for 44 in the third T20I at the Holkar Stadium in Indore, including the wicket of West Indies captain Shai Hope for five in the second over and Sherfane Rutherford when he threatened to take the game away. He won the man of the match award and also made 11 with the bat.
What was India's plan against Shai Hope in Indore?
India planned before the match how to keep things tight to Hope, who had scored back-to-back ODI centuries, a fifty in the first T20I and an unbeaten 102 in the second. Arshdeep said the coaches worked through the plan with him and it was executed, with Hope dismissed for five.
Which milestone did Abhishek Sharma reach in the third T20I?
Abhishek Sharma became the sixth Indian men’s cricketer to reach 2,000 T20I runs and the fastest in men’s cricket to the mark in terms of balls faced. He has 2,036 runs in 65 T20Is at an average of 32.83 and a strike rate of 195.95.
When and where is the fourth IND vs WI T20I?
The fourth T20I is in Hyderabad on Wednesday, 14 October 2026. India lead the five-match series 2-1, so a win would seal the series with a match to spare.