India won by 17 runs to complete 3-0 sweep of T20I series

Riding on Suryakumar Yadav's heroic counter-attack and an all-round bowling effort, India hammered the West Indies by 17 runs in the 3rd T20I and completed a 3-0 sweep of the series in Kolkata on Sunday, February 20. With the win, India have all the 6 matches against West Indies as the visitors endured an ordinary tour.

With the victory, India extended their winning run in T20Is to 9 matches as they are all set to replace England from the No. 1 spot in the T20I rankings after the 3-0 victory.

Earlier in the day, Suryakumar and Venkatesh Iyer stitched a 91-run stand in just 35 balls, helping the Eden Gardens crowd get their money's worth in the T20I series finale. Coming into bat when India lost their captain Rohit Sharma for a shoddy 15-ball 7 and reeling at 93/4 in the 14th over, Venkatesh gave Suryakumar the perfect helping hand as the two batters went about destroying the West Indies bowling attack.

India posted 86 runs in the last 5 overs, their best death overs performance with the bat in T20I cricket, going past their tally of 80 when Yuvraj Singh went berserk in the T20 World Cup match against England in Durban in 2007.

Suryakumar Yadav pummeled 7 sixes and a boundary for his 31-ball 65. The Mumbai Indians batter left the Kolkata



crowd and his batting partner, Iyer, in awe, flaunting his wide range of shots. Suryakumar brought up his trademark pick-up shot as he got down to his knees and hit one from the off-side into the stands at fine-leg in one of the overs bowled by left-arm pacer Dominic Drakes.

Captain Rohit was delighted with Suryakumar's effort as the star batter got to his fifty in style with another stunning six over the cover boundary. Suryakumar got out in the final delivery of the Indian innings, walking to a big round of applause from the Indian dug-out and the fans.

Venkatesh gave a sold helping hand as the all-rounder, who will be playing at the Eden Gardens for Kolkata Knight Riders, continued his solid run in the wires, hitting 35 in just 19 balls, smashing 2 sixes and 4 boundaries.

Captain Rohit dropped himself down to No. 4 to accommodate Ruturaj Gaikwad and Ishan Kishan at the top but the move did not work as expected. While Ruturaj got out for 4, Ishan struggled once again for his 34-ball 31.

Rohit, who batted at No. 4, failed to get going, managing just 7 runs from 15 balls before Iyer and Suryakumar took over and decimated the West Indies attack.

India will next face Sri Lanka in a 3-match T20I series from February 24.