India beat West Indies by 17 runs to complete another clean sweepKOLKATA: Rain stayed away throughout the day, so did the Sun. But,
Suryakumar Yadav joined the party under the Eden Gardens floodlights here on Sunday with all guns blazing. The rather gloomy Kolkata day turned into an evening of fireworks as Suryakumar, along with Venkatesh Iyer, guided India to 184 for five in the third and final T20 International against the West Indies.
AS IT HAPPENED | SCORECARDThat was adequate as it eventually proved, with the West Indies being stopped at 167 for 9. Nicholas Pooran continued his defiance with a 47-ball 61. Rovman Powell and Romario Shephard blazed briefly, but those weren't enough. Like the ODIs, the T20I series was also a clean sweep for India with this 17-run win, the hosts dominating the entire tour. West Indies will have a lot to introspect. For the record, India had beaten New Zealand 3-0 too, in their previous T20I series at home.
The major talking point during the West Indies innings was injury to Deepak Chahar, who pulled a muscle before the last ball of his second over, the third of the innings. Having already dismissed the West Indies openers, Chahar's walking off the ground was a blow to India, although in the context of the match it did not matter much.
The Sunday show-stopper has to be the great effort by India's fifth wicket pair, considering that the 100th run came in the 16th over of the innings. The partnership was worth 91 runs, coming in only 37 balls, with the last five overs fetching a mind-boggling 86. A crowd of around 20,000 watched and roared as all this unfolded.
Suryakumar, whose stock keeps rising, scored 65 off just 31 deliveries, which had seven sixes, one of them landing in the partly crowded second tier. His only boundary, a brilliant cover drive, had even the West Indians applauding. He perished on the innings' last ball, going for the maximum again.
Venkatesh remained unbeaten on 35 and had two sixes too in his 19-ball stay. He also snapped up two wickets.
It was to be a day of experiments for India, who started off with four changes, two forced and two by choice, handing medium-pacer Avesh Khan his debut. While
Shreyas Iyer and Ruturaj Gaikwad came in for Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant,
Shardul Thakur and Avesh replaced the rested Bhuvneshwar Kumar and
Yuzvendra Chahal.
Skipper Rohit Sharma too dropped down to number four, leaving the opening slots for
Ishan Kishan and Gaikwad. The latter didn't quite do justice to the opportunity, mistiming one off
Jason Holder after opening up with a boundary.
Shreyas, however, did make an impact in his 16-ball stay of 25 runs. The KKR skipper showed his class with a few cracking shots. A straight-driven one stands out among his four boundaries.
His 53-run partnership for the second wicket with Kishan was the highlight in the early part of the innings. Kishan lived dangerously for his 34 - Hayden Walsh not holding on to a return chance - but then this format requires some risk taking.
Rohit wasn't quite his normal self and never really got going. His dismissal, bowled by Dominic Drakes even before India had reached 100, put the focus firmly on Suryakumar. From there, it was about how much he and Venkatesh would eventually give the bowlers to defend. And the duo did not disappoint.
With this win and series clean sweep India have overtaken England in the ICC T20I team rankings. Pakistan, New Zealand and South Africa complete the top 5.
India win series 3-0