IND vs WI 3rd ODI: Shubman Gill, Yuzvendra Chahal help India complete clean sweep with 119-run win

Shikhar Dhawan-led Team India kept their near-perfect record intact as they completed a 3-0 clean sweep in the ODI series over the West Indies, courtesy of a 119-run win in Trinidad on Wednesday. Shubman Gill’s unbeaten 98-run knock, combined with a four-wicket spell from Yuzvendra Chahal dealt a double-whammy to the hosts. 

Having won the toss, and deciding to bat first, the Men in Blue got off to a flying start as the skipper notched his second half-century of the series, followed by a valuable contribution from Shreyas Iyer (44 of 34), which helped India score 225 for 3 in 36 overs. 

The revised DLS target of 257 from 35 overs was a tricky one and Mohammed Siraj’s (2/14 in 3 overs) near-perfect first over with the new ball set the tone as West Indies could finally manage only 137 in 26 overs.

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Spinners Yuzvendra Chahal (4/17 in 4 overs), Axar Patel (1/38 in 6 overs) and seamer Shardul Thakur (2/17 in 5 overs) also performed their role admirably on a slowish surface as Brandon King (42 off 37 balls) and Nicholas Pooran (42 off 32 balls)’s counter-attacking resistance was never going to be good enough.

3-0

One happy bunch#TeamIndia | #WIvIND pic.twitter.com/3EM6drcMtp
— BCCI (@BCCI) July 27, 2022

While all three ODIs were played at the same venue, Dhawan and his men deserve full credit for making most of the opportunities, showing good game awareness in crunch situations throughout the series.

If they defended well under pressure in the first game, the second one saw the lower middle-order accomplish a tricky chase after a not-so-great show from the top-order.

The third game posed a different challenge as rain-break could have caused a decisive shift in momentum but the stylish Gill and the talented Shreyas Iyer (44 off 34 balls) changed the complexion of the game post rain-break.

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India were 115 for 1 in 24 overs when there was the first stoppage but once the play resumed, the visitors suddenly upped the ante, smashing 110 runs in the next 12 overs as Gill looked good for his maiden ton, which was not to be.

However, Gill would have little complaints having scored 205 runs in three games with scores of 64, 43 and 98 not out.

Congratulations #TeamIndia on winning the #WIvIND ODI series!

Over to T20Is now! pic.twitter.com/kpMx015pG1
— BCCI (@BCCI) July 27, 2022

Siraj’s ability to extract movement in the air and off the pitch did the trick as he removed Kyle Mayers (0) and Shamarh Brooks (0) in a space of three deliveries.

In case of left-handed Mayers, it was a perfectly full outswinger (inswinger for the batter) that tailed in and went through his defence. Right-handed batter Brooks got an off-cutter that was pitched slightly short of length but jagged back sharply to find the batter plumb in-front. 

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In a chase of 257 in 36 overs, the scorecard reading 0 for 2 is always bad omen and West Indies never recovered from that setback.

The normally consistent Shai Hope (22) was stumped by Sanju Samson off Chahal’s bowling, while King after some breathtaking shots was beaten by an arm-ball from Patel.

The match was over by then but the resistance completely ended when Prasidh Krishna forced Pooran to go for a pull to a delivery that was fast and bouncy. The resultant catch was gleefully accepted by Dhawan as West Indies fizzled out without a fight.

With inputs from PTI