KOLKATA: India beat West Indies by 18 runs in the third and final Twenty20 international thanks to a brilliant innings by Suryakumar Yadav at the Eden Gardens on Sunday 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 66-3 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 184-5.

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 (3-22) cleaned up the middle order as the tourists fell short.

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.

Scoreboard

INDIA:

R. Gaikwad c Mayers b Holder 4

I. Kishan b Chase 34

S. Iyer c Holder b Walsh 25

R. Sharma b Drakes 7

S. Yadav c Powell b Shepherd 65

V. Iyer Not out 35

EXTRAS (LB-10, W-4) 14

TOTAL (for five wickets, 20 overs) 184

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-10 (Gaikwad), 2-63 (Iyer), 3-66 (Kishan), 4-93 (Sharma), 5-184 (Yadav)

DID NOT BAT: D. Chahar, S. Thakur, H. Patel, R. Bishnoi, A. Khan

BOWLING: Holder 4-0-29-1 (2w) Shepherd 4-0-50-1 (1w) Chase 4-0-23-1, Walsh 4-0-30-1, Dominic Drakes 3-0-37-1 (1w) Allen 1-0-5-0

WEST INDIES:

K. Mayers c Kishan b Chahar 6

S. Hope c Kishan b Chahar 8

N. Pooran c Kishan b Thakur 61

R. Powell c Thakur b Patel 25

K. Pollard c Bishnoi b Iyer 5

J. Holder c Shreyas b Venkatesh 2

R. Chase b Patel 12

R. Shepherd c Rohit b Patel 29

F .Allen not out 5

D. Drakes c Sharma b Thakur 4

H. Walsh not out 0

EXTRAS (LB-3, W-7) 10

TOTAL (for nine wickets, 20 overs) 167

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-6 (Mayers), 2-26 (Hope), 3-73 (Powell), 4-82 (Pollard), 5-87 (Holder), 6-100 (Chase), 7-148 (Pooran), 8-158 (Shepherd), 9-166 (Drakes)

BOWLING: Chahar 1.5-0-15-2, Avesh 4-0-42-0 (1w), Venkatesh 2.1-0-23-2, Thakur 4-0-33-2 (3w) Bishnoi 4-0-29-0 (2w) Patel 4-0-22-3 (1w)

RESULT: India won by 17 runs.

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Suryakumar Yadav

SERIES: India won the series 3-0

UMPIRES: Jayaraman Madan­agopal (India), Karumanaseri Anan­th­a­­padmanabhan (India)

TV UMPIRE: Nitin Menon (India)

MATCH REFEREE: Manu Nayyar (India)

Published in Dawn, February 21st, 2022