Shubman Gill and Shikhar Dhawan’s half centuries, along with an all-round bowling display led by Yuzuvendra Chahal, helped India to post a 119-run win over West Indies in the third and final ODI here at Port of Spain on Thursday.
This was India’s 12th consecutive series win over the West Indies.
The hosts failed to chase down the target of 257 in 36 overs as they miserably folded at 137 in a rain-shortened match, succumbing to a 3-0 whitewash.
Gill was denied his maiden ODI century by two runs as rains poured down for the second time, bringing India’s innings to an abrupt end. India finished at 225/3 in 36 overs, forcing West Indies to chase a tall DLS-adjusted target.
Openers Dhawan and Gill gave a rollicking start for India by adding 113 runs for the first wicket. Gill played second fiddle to Dhawan (58 off 74), who scored runs quickly.
India were 115 for one in 24 overs before rain interrupted the proceedings. When the play resumed after the second rain stoppage, India had just 12 overs to face, which forced Gill and Shreyas Iyer to up the ante.
They added 84 runs in 8.1 overs before Iyer took on spinner Hayden Walsh, clobbering a boundary and a six in the first over. He was ultimately holed out in the deep near the boundary as he pulled a long hop from Akeal Hosein.
Suryakumar Yadav then fell in the next over, slogging an edge to backward point of all positions.
With the ball, Mohammed Siraj put India in the driver’s seat by picking up Kyle Mayers and Shamarh Brooks in the first over. He disturbed the furniture of Mayers and trapped Brooks plumb in front.
Shai Hope and Brandon King then sewed up a 47-run stand but succumbed to Indian spinners. Hope was stumped by Sanju Samson off Yuzvendra Chahal whereas King was bowled by an arm-ball from Axar Patel.
Captain Nicholas Pooran put India on the backfoot, but miscued a short ball to mid-on. Shardul Thakur then chipped in with wickets with Chahal polishing things off with two more wickets in the 26th over, helping India record their biggest ODI win over the West Indies in the Caribbean.
Chahal finished with dream figures of four for 17 runs.
Brief Scores: India 225/3 in 36 overs (Gill 98*, Dhawan 58; Walsh 2-57) beat West Indies 137 in 26 overs (Pooran 42, King 42; Chahal 4-17, Siraj 2-14) by 119 runs (DLS).
