AHMEDABAD: India crushed West Indies with a 96-run victory in the third One-day International here at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Friday to sweep the series 3-0 and give Rohit Sharma, their new white-ball captain, an impressive start.

Shreyas Iyer scored 80 runs off 111 balls and Rishabh Pant hit a quicker 56 off 54 to propel India to 265 all out after the hosts won the toss and chose to bat first.

In reply, West Indies were bowled out for 169 in 37.1 overs.

India made a poor start by losing both Sharma (13) and Virat Kohli (0) in the fourth over. Alzarri Joseph (2-54) dismissed both batters in the space of three deliveries. Sharma was clean bowled while Kohli was caught behind for a two-ball duck.

It marked a disappointing series for the former captain and batting great. Kohli hasn’t scored an international hundred since November 2019. He had scores of 8, 18 and 0 in three innings in this series.

Rohit was happy with the way his team fared in the three-match rubber.

“We have ticked a lot of boxes in this series,” home captain Rohit Sharma said after leading India to their first ODI series sweep against West Indies.

“With the top order not firing, it was good for the middle order to bail us out. Today they got us to a respectable total. This was the biggest positive.”

Odean Smith (1-36) dismissed Shikhar Dhawan to reduce India to 42-3 in 9.3 overs.

But Iyer and Pant then came together for the fourth wicket and added 110 runs. They started slowly and rebuilt the innings with purpose.

Iyer hit nine fours, while Pant hit six fours as well as a six.

Pant reached his fifth ODI half-century off 47 balls, while Iyer scored his ninth half-century off 74 deliveries.

With the middle order clicking for a change, India looked set for a near-300 score. But Pant and Suryakumar Yadav (6) were dismissed in quick succession as India slid to 164-5 in 32.3 overs.

Hayden Walsh took 2-59 as he dismissed both Pant and Iyer.

Washington Sundar (33) and Deepak Chahar (38) added a quick-fire 53 runs off 51 balls for the seventh wicket. Jason Holder (4-34) mopped up the lower order.

In reply, West Indies batting collapsed for a third straight time. The visitors were reduced to 82-7 in 18.3 overs.

The top order had been dismissed with the score at only 25-3 in five overs as India inflicted early blows with pace.

Deepak Chahar (2-41) struck twice in the fifth over to remove Brandon King (14) and Shamarh Brooks (0).

Prasidh Krishna (3-27) then dismissed Darren Bravo (19) who added 43 runs with Nicholas Pooran (34). Krishna also removed Holder (6).

Returning spinner Kuldeep Yadav took 2-51 as the West Indies chase ran out of steam despite resistance at the end of the innings.

Smith (36) threw his bat around to push the score past 100. He hit three fours and three sixes in his 18-ball stay. Joseph (29) and Walsh (13) added 47 runs for the ninth wicket. Mohammed Siraj took 3-29.

India won the first ODI by six wickets with 132 balls to spare, and the second match by 44 runs.

It is India’s 11th consecutive bilateral ODI series win against West Indies since 2007.

The two teams will now travel to Kolkata to play a three-match T20 series at the Eden Gardens, with the first match starting on Feb 16.

Scoreboard

INDIA:

R. Sharma b Joseph 13

S. Dhawan c Holder b Smith 10

V. Kohli c Hope b Joseph 0

S. Iyer c Bravo b Walsh 80

R. Pant c Hope b Walsh 56

Suryakumar Yadav c Brooks b Allen 6

W. Sundar c Smith b Holder 33

D. Chahar c Hope b Holder 38

Kuldeep Yadav c Hope b Holder 5

M. Siraj b Holder 4

P. Krishna not out 0

EXTRAS (LB-1, NB-1, W-18) 20

TOTAL (all out, 50 overs) 265

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-16 (Rohit), 2-16 (Kohli), 3-42 (Dhawan), 4-152 (Pant), 5-164 (Suryakumar), 6-187 (Iyer), 7-240 (Chahar), 8-250 (Kuldeep), 9-261 (Sundar), 10-265 (Siraj)

BOWLING: Roach 7-0-39-0 (3w); Joseph 10-1-54-2 (6w); Smith 7-0-36-1 (7w, 1nb); Holder 8-1-34-4 (1w); Allen 8-0-42-1; Walsh 10-0-59-2 (1w)

WEST INDIES:

S. Hope lbw b Siraj 5

B. King c Yadav b Chahar 14

D. Bravo c Kohli b Krishna 19

S. Brooks c Iyer b Chahar 0

N. Pooran c Rohit b Kuldeep 34

J. Holder c Rohit b Krishna 6

F. Allen c Pant b Kuldeep 0

A. Joseph c Kohli b Krishna 29

O. Smith c Dhawan b Siraj 36

H. Walsh c Rohit b Siraj 13

K. Roach not out 0

EXTRAS (LB-4, W-9) 13

TOTAL (all out, 37.1 overs) 169

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-19 (Hope), 2-25 (King), 3-25 (Brooks), 4-68 (Bravo), 5-76 (Holder), 6-77 (Allen), 7-82 (Pooran), 8-122 (Smith), 9-169 (Walsh), 10-169 (Joseph)

BOWLING: Chahar 8-1-41-2 (1w); Siraj 9-1-29-3 (2w); Krishna 8.1-1-27-3 (1w); Kuldeep 8-0-51-2 (2w); Sundar 4-0-17-0 (3w) RESULT: India win the match by 96 runs.

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Shreyas Iyer

SERIES: India win three-match series 3-0.

MAN-OF-THE-SERIES: Prasidh Krishna

UMPIRES: Anil Chaudhary, Nitin Menon (both India)

TV UMPIRE: K.N. Ananthapadmanabhan (India)

MATCH REFEREE: Manu Nayyar (India)

Published in Dawn, February 12th, 2022