Rohit Sharma-led Indian cricket team recorded its first-ever whitewash of West Indies in a bilateral ODI series with a 96-run win in the third and final match of the series on Friday (February 11) in Ahmedabad.
Rohit won the toss and elected to bat first to challenge his batters to learn to adapt for the eventuality of losing a crucial toss some day.
India made four changes to the playing XI for the dead rubber with Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Chahar and Kuldeep Yadav coming in for KL Rahul, Deepak Hooda, Shardul Thakur and Kuldeep Yadav. For West Indies, Hayden Walsh Jr. replaced Akeal Hosein with Kieron Pollard unavailable due to a niggle.
India were in some trouble after the captain fell for 13, followed by Virat Kohli for 0 and Shikhar Dhawan for 10, to be stuttering at 42/3 in the 10th over. Shreyas Iyer (80) and Rishabh Pant (56) stabilized the innings with a century stand, while Washington Sundar (33) and Deepak Chahar (38) provided the finishing tough to set a target of 266 for West Indies. Jason Holder finished with 4/34.
West Indies' chase was rocked right at the start as Mohammed Siraj and Deepak Chahar picked up early wickets before Prasidh Krishna and Kuldeep Yadav joined in the act as the visitors were cleaned up for 169 in 37.1 overs. Odean Smith provided some entertainment with a brisk 36 off 18 balls.
Siraj and Krishna took three wickets each, while Chahar and Kuldeep grabbed two wickets each. Shreyas was named the Player-of-the-Match for his knock of 80, and Prasidh Krishna won the Player-of-the-Series award for his 9 wickets in the series.
READ ALSO: ‘Have ticked a lot of boxes in this series’, says Rohit Sharma after India’s 3-0 victory in ODIs
Both teams will now head to Kolkata for three T20Is on February 16, 18 and 20. The jubilant Indian players took to Instagram to share pictures and messages after the series victory. Here are the posts:
