(Reuters) – India beat West Indies by 17 runs in the third and final Twenty20 international thanks to a brilliant innings by Suryakumar Yadav at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens on Sunday to win the series 3-0.
West Indies will fly home without a single victory on the tour having also lost the one-day international series 3-0.
Yadav (65) walked in with India in dire straits at 66-3 at the halfway mark and he went after the bowling, smashing seven sixes — including three in the final over — to guide India to a competitive total of 184-5.
West Indies lost wickets cheaply at regular intervals before wicketkeeper-batsman Nicholas Pooran nearly silenced the sparse crowd with his knock of 61.
Pooran and Romario Shepherd (29) scored in boundaries to give India captain Rohit Sharma cause for concern before Pooran skied a swirling catch to Ishan Kishan and Harshal Patel (3-22) cleaned up the middle order as the tourists fell short.
India were put into bat and Rohit sent Ruturaj Gaikwad in to open in his place. But he fell cheaply in the third over to Jason Holder before Kishan (34) and Shreyas Iyer (25) shared a 53-run partnership.
Rohit, who came in at number four, failed to get going before his frustration spilled over and he was bowled when he went down the track trying to attack Dominic Drakes.
But Yadav and Venkatesh Iyer (35 not out) plundered 86 runs in the last five overs before the former fell to a catch in the deep off the final delivery of the innings.
(This story corrects victory margin to 17 runs in first paragraph)
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Ed Osmond)
