India and West Indies faced each other in the 3rd and final T20I of the series which has already been won by India. India won the first two T20Is at Kolkata and Lucknow, while West Indies played for pride and respect on a tour where they had won just one game and tied one.
West Indies captain Carlos Brathwaite called correctly and chose to bat first, keeping in mind the Chennai pitch slows down quite a bit in the second half and makes batting hard. India brought in Washington Sundar in place of Jasprit Bumrah and Yuzvendra Chahal replaced Kuldeep Yadav.
Windies started in ominous fashion adding 51 runs in 6 overs before Shai Hope fell for 24 in 22 balls to a catch by Sundar off Chahal. Chahal also accounted for Shimron Hetmyer who made 26 in 21 balls, getting him caught by Pandya.
Darren Bravo then scored 43* in 37 balls and let Nicolas Pooran take center stage after Ramdin was dismissed for 15 by Sundar. Pooran hit the Indian bowlers to all parts of the ground as the last 7 overs yielded more than 85 runs. Pooran hit a brilliantly dominating 53* in 24 balls with 4 fours and 4 sixes.
Windies ended with 181/3 in 20 overs. For India, Chahal picked 2/28 and Sundar picked 1/33.
India’s reply was not so good as Lucknow’s centurion Rohit Sharma fell for four runs, caught by Brathwaite off Paul. Rahul also looked good for his 17, but his innings was cut short by Thomas.
Then Shikhar Dhawan and Rishabh Pant added 130 runs to put the Windies to the sword. Pant scored his first T20I fifty, a 38-ball 58 with 3 sixes and 6 fours before being bowled by Keemo Paul.
Dhawan was dismissed on 92 off 62 balls with 10 fours and 2 sixes with India needing just one run off two balls. India won the match on the last ball as Windies fielders couldn't hold onto the ball and get a run out.
India won the match by 6 wickets and performed a whitewash on West Indies by winning all the three T20I matches in the series.
BRIEF SCORES:
WI 181/3 (N POORAN 53*; Y CHAHAL 2/33) lost to IND 182/4 (S DHAWAN 92; R PANT 58) BY 6 wickets
India won the 3-match T20I series 3-0.
