India beat West Indies by 17 runs in third and final T20 to complete a 3-0 series whitewash at the Eden Gardens on Sunday. Suryakumar Yadav top-scored with 65 off 31 balls to fire India to 184 for five in 20 overs. In response, West Indies ended at 167 for nine after another sublime knock from Nicholas Pooran (61 off 47) went in vain. Sent into bat, India did not get off to an ideal start as the hosts lost opening batter Ruturaj Gaikwad (4) in the third over off the bowling of Jason Holder.
Shreyas Iyer joined Ishan Kishan in the middle and after the end of powerplay overs, India’s score read 43/1.
The 53-run stand for the second wicket between Iyer and Ishan came to an end in the 9th over as Hayden Walsh Jr sent Shreyas (25) back to the pavilion and this brought skipper Rohit Sharma to the middle.
Kishan (34) was then bowled by Roston Chase in the next over and India was reduced to 66/3 in the 10th over. Rohit and Suryakumar Yadav put on 27 runs for the fourth wicket, however, this partnership was broken by Dominic Drakes as he bowled Rohit (7) in the 14th over.
After Deepak Chahar limped off the field after failing to complete the third over due to a hamstring injury, Harshal Patel (3/22), Venkatesh Iyer (2/23 from 2.1 overs) and Shardul Thakur (2/33) performed their tasks impressively to defend India’s 184/5.
