INDIA beat West Indies by 17 runs in the third and final Twenty20 international thanks to a brilliant innings by Suryakumar Yadav at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens on Sunday (20) to win the series 3-0.
West Indies will fly home without a single victory on the tour having also lost the one-day international series 3-0.
Yadav (65) walked in with India in dire straits at 66 for 3 at the halfway mark and he went after the bowling, smashing seven sixes – including three in the final over – to guide India to a competitive total of 184 for 5.
West Indies lost wickets cheaply at regular intervals before wicketkeeper-batsman Nicholas Pooran nearly silenced the sparse crowd with his knock of 61.
Pooran and Romario Shepherd (29) scored in boundaries to give India captain Rohit Sharma cause for concern before Pooran skied a swirling catch to Ishan Kishan and Harshal Patel (3 for 22) cleaned up the middle order as the tourists fell short.
“For us as a team, whether we chase or bat first, we have a challenge. We just want to keep improving,” Rohit said.
“Our middle order is relatively new. We just wanted to tick the boxes. (We’re) happy with the series, I think we got what we wanted from this series.”
India were put into bat and Rohit sent Ruturaj Gaikwad in to open in his place. But he fell cheaply in the third over to Jason Holder before Kishan (34) and Shreyas Iyer (25) shared a 53-run partnership.
Rohit, who came in at number four, failed to get going before his frustration spilled over and he was bowled when he went down the track trying to attack Dominic Drakes.
But Yadav and Venkatesh Iyer (35 not out) plundered 86 runs in the last five overs before the former fell to a catch in the deep off the final delivery of the innings.
“Coming to India is always going to be difficult. We had an opportunity to win the ODI series as well,” West Indies captain Kieron Pollard said.
“These guys are finding their feet… Looking forward to what the future holds.”
Yadav was named player of the match and the series.
(Reuters)
