Port of Spain (Trinidad):Following his side's 119-run win over West Indies in the third and final ODI, Indian skipper Shikhar Dhawan said that the young players performed maturely. Top bowling spells from spinner Yuzvendra Chahal and pacers Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur helped India crush West Indies by 119 runs in the rain-hit third and final ODI of the series here at Queen's Park Oval on Thursday.
"I feel the boys are young, but they played maturely. The way they handled themselves on the field, really proud of them. Very good signs for us. I am quite pleased with my form, I have been playing this format since a long time. I was happy with the way I played that knock, in the first ODI. And even today, happy with my peformance. The way he scored those 98 runs, it was amazing to watch. The way all the boys responded, it was pretty amazing. We feel lucky to come here, we are thankful to the crowd. They make us more popular. I am proud of our bowling unit, they gave hundred percent. The way Siraj took those two wickets, and the way Shardul and others bowled," said Dhawan at post-match presentation.
India has completed a clean sweep of 3-0 over the hosts. India can walk away with a lot of positives after this match as their batting was great, lead from the front by openers Shikhar Dhawan (58) and Shubman Gill (98*). Setting a target of 257 in 35 overs after the match was hit by rain, Windies batters never looked as if they were in the game as Indian bowlers feasted on them. The hosts fell prey to a world-class bowling attack with their careless shot selection. Chahal (4/17), Siraj (2/14) and Thakur (2/17) were extremely economic with the ball and delivered timely blows to their opponent.
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Chasing 257, West Indies got off a nightmarish start, losing opener Kyle Mayers and Shamarh Brooks in the second over to pacer Mohammed Siraj. Following this, opener Shai Hope and Brandon King resumed the chase for the hosts. They both maintained solid running between the wickets. King was the aggressor during the partnership. Hope-King added 47 runs to their stand before the former was stumped by wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson for 22 off 33 balls on a delivery by spinner Yuzvendra Chahal.
At the end of 10 overs, West Indies was 48/3, with King (24*) and Pooran (1*). Captain Nicholas Pooran was next up on crease. The 12th over was bowled by pacer Prasidh Krishna and it turned out to be expensive, with Pooran-King smashing four boundaries in it collectively. It was spinner Axar Patel who gave India their fourth wicket, removing King, who was looking threatening. He had scored 42 off 37 balls before he was trapped leg before wicket by the bowler.
Keacy Carty was next up on the crease. Pooran's game became more attacking, smashing Deepak Hooda for a four and a six and Axar for a four as well. The duo took the hosts to the 100-run mark at end of 18 overs, with Pooran being the aggressor. Shardul Thakur broke the 29-run stand between the duo, bowling out Carty for just five runs off 17 balls. At this point, half of Windies line up was back in the hut at 103.
Jason Holder was the next batter to arrive on the crease. The all-rounder was making his return to white-ball cricket after a while and had a task in hand to build a solid stand with his skipper. Prasidh finally got his first wicket of the day, dismissing the danger man Pooran for 42 off 32 balls after being caught by Dhawan at mid-on.
Thakur gave another jolt to the hosts, sending back Akael Hosein for just one run after skipper Dhawan took another great catch. There was not much batting left with the Windies except for Holder, who needed to pull off something really great to guide his team to a consolation win.