Mumbai: Figures of 3/4 from Deepak Chahar were followed by half-centuries from Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant to help India to a seven-wicket win over West Indies in Guyana.
Virat Kohli won the toss and elected to field, and a brilliant spell from Chahar saw the West Indies top order blown away inside the first four overs. His first dismissal was of Sunil Narine for two, and getting the ball to nip back into the left-handers, Chahal had Evin Lewis and Shimron Hetmyer trapped lbw to leave West Indies 14/3.
Kieron Pollard and Nicholas Pooran led a rebuilding job, putting on 66 for the fourth wicket. Pollard was more than happy to go aerial, his innings featuring six sixes as India’s spinners failed to find much joy. While Pooran departed to Navdeep Saini, Pollard brought up his first T20I half-century in seven years with a maximum off Krunal Pandya.
Saini bowled Pollard for 58 but Rovman Powell – who hit a half-century in the second T20I – ensured that West Indies would finish on a competitive total. Powell’s cameo of 32 from 20 balls took West Indies to 146/6.
Shikhar Dhawan was the first wicket to fall in the Indian innings, finding Sheldon Cottrell off the bowling of Oshane Thomas to leave India 10/1 after two overs. Dhawan’s opening partner KL Rahul hit 20 before the wily Fabian Allen intervened, the batsman’s dance down the track resulting in a faint inside edge with Pooran collecting the ball behind the stumps.
Kohli and Pant joined forces and initially chose to accumulate watchfully rather than go at full throttle, their fifty partnership arriving from 45 balls.
From there they took full control, Pant able to clear the ropes on the off-side while Kohli glided effortlessly at the other end to his 21st T20I half-century.
Pant had the audacity to reverse-sweep Sunil Narine, and while Kohli departed to Oshane Thomas for 59, India’s wicketkeeper took his side over the line and in some style too; he drove West Indies skipper Carlos Brathwaite back down the ground for his fourth maximum of the innings to wrap it all up.
The left-hander finished unbeaten on 65, India closing out the T20I series in rampant fashion.