WORLD T20 champions West Indies have suffered the embarrassment of a whitewash at the hands of India after losing the final game of the three-match series yesterday by seven wickets at Guyana National Stadium, Providence. This is India’s fourth clean-sweep of a three-match T20I series.

Playing only for pride in the dead rubber, after India won the first two games in Florida over the weekend, the Windies were again outplayed in all departments of the game. The result yesterday is the West Indies second consecutive whitewash in T20I, after they were beaten in similar fashion by England earlier in the year.

After restricting the Windies to 146-6, Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant then struck commanding half-centuries to seal the win, with India reaching 150-3 in 19.1 overs.
Both Kohli and Pant played a well-measured and well-calculated innings after they were in a tricky position at 27-2.

Pant ended with an unbeaten 42-ball 65 with four boundaries apiece, while Kohli struck 59 off 49 balls, inclusive of six fours.

Earlier, Kieron Pollard played the sort of innings that has made him a multi-millionaire, and one of the game’s foremost Twenty20 freelancer. The right-hander was at his brutal best, hitting six maximums in his knock of 58. Pollard’s blitz, along with Rovman Powell’s cameo 32 towards the backend of the innings, gave the Windies some hope at the halfway stage of the game.

After the game was delayed for more than an hour due to a wet outfield, the Windies were asked to bat first, a decision which saw their top three falling in the powerplay – all to pacer and man-of-the-match Deepak Chahar.

Openers Sunil Narine and Evin Lewis, as well as local star Shimron Hetmyer, were the batsmen dismissed to yet another dismal top order batting display in the three-match series.

Narine was caught at mid-on, while both Lewis, who unsuccessful challenged the on-field umpire decision and Hetmyer went leg-before-wicket.

It was a period which brought the innings close to stagnation, However, the veteran Pollard and Nicholas Pooran (17), then steadied the ship with a substantive half-century partnership to lift the Windies innings.

After 14 overs, West Indies were hovering at around six per over, but a late flourish has meant that their score is above-par on a tricky surface. However, Navdeep Saini accounted for both set batsmen, Pollard and Pooran, and just when, India looked to finish on a high, Powell’s cameo powered the hosts to a decent total.

In the chase, India lost their openers early. Shikhar Dhawan hasn’t had the best of series and his poor run of form continued yet again. He was sent back in the second over by left-arm seamer Sheldon Cottrell, while spinner Fabian Allen outfoxed KL Rahul.
At that point both Kohli and Pant paced their innings beautifully, bided their time, played risk-free cricket for a while before stepping on the gas. They stitched a 106-run partnership for the third-wicket and notched up their respective fifties before Virat threw it away towards the end.

But Pant took it till the end and polished off the target with five balls to spare. There is nothing much to write about West Indies’ bowlers who were really pinned to the mat by that spectacular partnership and they were left gasping for breath.

While next year’s T20 World Cup is 14 months away. both West Indies captain Carlos Brathwaite and head coach Floyd Reifer did hint towards long-term planning, where more young talent will be exposed. They had made one change to their lineup, with the big-hitting Fabian Allen replacing left-arm spin-bowling all-rounder Khary Pierre.

On the other hand, leg-spinner Rahul Chahar made his debut, while Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja were rested. Krunal Pandya was named player-of-the-series.

After the game Brathwaite said: “I think we didn’t start off well with the bat, but kudos to Polly. As a team, I think we are still progressing. I thought 146 was a bit below par but the bowlers fought. Today (yesterday), we finished well with the bat. We didn’t play well as a unit. We are still trying to find out the perfect combination.”

The two teams will be in action again tomorrow in the first One Day International here.

SCOREBOARD

WEST INDIES innings

1. Lewis lbw b D. Chahar 10
2. Narine c Saini b D. Chahar 2
3. Hetmyer lbw b D. Chahar 1
4. Pollard b Saini 58
5. Pooran c Pant b Saini 17
6. Powell not out 32
7. Brathwaite c Washington Sundar b R. Chahar 10

F Allen not out 8

Extras: (lb 4, w 4) 8

Total: (6 wickets, 20 overs) 146

Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-13, 3-14, 4-80, 5-105, 6-119.

Bowling: B. Kumar 3-0-19-0, D. Chahar 3-1-4-3, N. Saini 4-0-34-2, R. Chahar 3-0-27-1, W. Sundar 3-0-23-0, K. Pandya 4-0-35-0.

INDIA innings

Shikhar Dhawan c Cottrell b Thomas 3

1. Rahul stp. Pooran b Allen 20
2. Kohli c Lewis b Thomas 59
3. Pant not out 65
4. Pandey not out 2

Extras: (w-1) 1

Total: (3 wickets. 19.1 overs) 150

Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-27, 3-133.

Bowling: S. Cottrell 4-0-26-0, O. Thomas 4-0-29-2, F. Allen 3-0-18-1, S. Narine 4-0-29-0, C. Brathwaite 2.1-0-25-0, K. Paul 2-0-23-0.