Naman Dir breaks Yuvaraj Singh's 19-year record in India vs West Indies match

In the four T20 matches of the series between India and West Indies, which concluded on Wednesday (October 14) with India losing by 24 runs and the series tied at 2-2, the fifth and decisive match will take place in Bangalore on Saturday (October 17). This match will determine the winner of the series.

However, throughout the first four encounters of this T20 series between India and West Indies, Vaibha Suryavanshi was not in the starting lineup, although he was often present with the team during water breaks. This raised several questions regarding the reasons for his absence from the squad. He is likely to be on the bench again in the fifth T20 in Bangalore.

Vaibha's international career began on July 4, 2026, in Manchester against England in a T20, although he had previously participated in the tour of Ireland but did not receive playing time. To date, Vaibha has played 8 T20 matches, scoring 246 runs at an average of 30.75.

However, one statistic emerged: under Gautam Gambhir's leadership, Vaibha was given less playing time than when VVS Laxman served as the head coach of the Indian team.

Vaibha was first selected for the tour of Ireland, where two matches were held, both lost by the Indian team, but he did not play. His debut occurred in the second match of the five-match series on the tour of England. England won this series 4-0, and the first T20 in Chester-Le-Street was a draw.

During the tour of England, Vaibha played in three T20 matches in Manchester, Nottingham, and Bristol, scoring 42 runs at an average of 14. His strike rate was 168.

Next followed the tour of Zimbabwe, where Sandeep Samson was not part of the squad. Consequently, Vaibha was given the opportunity to start alongside Abhishek Sharma. In this series, Vaibha made a splash, becoming the 'Player of the Series' and scoring 151 runs in three matches at an average of 50.33 and a strike rate of 196.10. It is worth noting that for this tour in July 202, former Indian player VVS Laxman was appointed as the head coach of the Indian team.

This was followed by a three-match T20 series at home against Afghanistan, in which Vaibha Suryavanshi did not participate in any match. Then came a T20 international match against Japan, where Vaibha also did not play, and VVS Laxman was the head coach then.

Subsequently, the Asian Games 2026 took place, where the quarter-final against Afghanistan was cancelled. After this, India defeated Sri Lanka and then Pakistan in the semi-finals and final, winning the gold medal. Against Sri Lanka and Pakistan, Vaibha played, scoring 38 and 15 runs respectively.

Thus, since Vaibha was included in the Indian squad, the team has played 21 matches. Gautam Gambhir acted as coach in 14 matches, while VVS Laxman coached in 7 matches. Including the T20 in Bangalore on Saturday, the total number of T20s in which Vaibha will be in the squad will reach 22.

In the fourth T20 match between India and West Indies, held in Hyderabad, Caribbean captain Shai Hope made a splash with his powerful batting. On the last ball before reaching a century, he was aided by a serious error from Indian fielder Tilak Verma, which served as a lifeline and allowed him to complete the hundred.

On the final ball, Shai Hope had scored 96 runs and deflected a strong shot sideways. The ball flew directly towards Tilak Verma, who was positioned at long-on. It could have been an easy catch, but due to the bright stadium lighting, Tilak Verma did not see the ball and could not judge it correctly. The ball went over his hands and crossed the boundary line, becoming a six.

Taking advantage of this reprieve, Shai Hope completed his magnificent century. Immediately after the ball slipped from his hands, Indian vice-captain Tilak Verma gestured that he had not noticed the ball due to the floodlight. Nevertheless, this small blunder proved very costly for the Indian team, as this sixth run helped Hope score his fourth century in the series as captain of the West Indies.

In the first T20 match against the West Indies, held at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow, India's captain Shreyas Iyer demonstrated outstanding batting performance. He helped India secure a convincing victory by 8 runs, scoring 102 not out off 43 balls.

Following this impressive victory, fans highly praised Iyer's performance. Shreyas' sister, Shreshta Iyer, also expressed her joy on social media, publicly showing support for her brother after his strong performance.

As soon as Shreyas Iyer completed his first international century in T20, his sister Shreshta Iyer shared a very sweet and special post on Instagram. She posted a picture of her brother with the caption: 'Smile, Sarpanch Sahab scored a hundred.' This image from the sister received great approval from fans and quickly went viral on social media.

This century was Shreyas Iyer's first in T20 format. With this achievement, Iyer also broke a significant record previously held by former captain Virat Kohli. The record belonged to Virat Kohli for the highest chase score in T20 international matches as captain of India.

Virat Kohli achieved this record in 2019 against the West Indies in Hyderabad, scoring 94 not out. Shreyas Iyer surpassed this mark by scoring 102 not out in Lucknow, becoming the first Indian captain to score a century in T20 while chasing a target.

In this contest, the West Indies team batted first and scored 171 runs in 19.1 overs. For the West Indies, Shai Hope scored 52 runs, and Sherfane Rutherford scored 56 runs. From India's side, young player Naman Diar, who debuted in this match, performed excellently as a bowler, taking 3 wickets for 31 runs. Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav also secured two wickets each.

When the Indian team started the chase, they lost two batsmen for the first 35 runs. After this, captain Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan took charge, building a crucial partnership of 137 runs between them. Iyer scored 102* and Ishan Kishan scored 37 runs, remaining unbeaten, which allowed India to reach 172 runs in just 14.4 overs, losing only 2 batsmen, and win the match by 8 runs, gaining a 1-0 lead in the series.