Suryakumar Yadav, Venkatesh Iyer Star As India Beat West Indies By 17 Runs In 3rd T20I, Sweep Series 3-0

Indian seamers fired in unison after Suryakumar Yadav's belligerent fifty as the hosts coasted to a series-sweeping 17-run win over the West Indies in the third and final T20I in Kolkata on Sunday. After Deepak Chahar limped off the field after failing to complete the third over due to a hamstring injury, Harshal Patel (3/22), Venkatesh Iyer (2/23 from 2.1 overs) and Shardul Thakur (2/33) performed their tasks impressively to defend India's 184/5. Wicket-keeper batter Nicholas Pooran continued his fine form slamming a third successive fifty (61 off 47 balls; 8x4, 1x6) but it was not enough as West Indies managed just 167 for nine.

For Rohit, it was his third successive clean sweep as fulltime skipper, having earlier defeated New Zealand (0-3) in T20Is and West Indies (0-3) in ODIs. The win also matched their 2020 record of nine successive victories on the trot.

For the West Indies, this was their third successive bilateral series defeats away from home -- 0-2 to New Zealand in 2020-21 and 0-3 to Pakistan 2021-22 -- as they capped a forgettable India sojourn losing six matches on the trot (including three in the ODI leg).

Though ebutant pacer Avesh Khan (4-0-42-0) struggled with his line, Chahar made early inroads for India early on removing both the openers -- Kayle Mayers (6) and Shai Hope (8) -- in the space of 11 deliveries inside the powerplay.

Chahar swung the ball both ways and also smartly changed his pace to deceive the Windies openers and gave the first breakthrough in the fifth ball after India reviewed it successfully to dismiss Mayers.

In his next over, he took the outside edge of Hope with a peach of an outswinger and looked on fire before he sustained an injury and limped off the field without completing