KL Rahul missed out on a century by nine runs while fellow opener Rohit Sharma blasted a quickfire 71 as India posted a mammoth 240-3 in the deciding Mumbai T20 which set up a 67-run win over the West Indies on Wednesday.
With the three-match series tied 1-1, India needed to put in a much better effort with the bat after being ‘out-hit’ by the Windies batsmen who registered 10 more sixes across the two T20s.
The hosts went after the Windies attack, making the most of a flat pitch and wet outfield because of heavy dew as the openers smashed 135 in just 11.4 overs. Rohit and Rahul matched each other shot for shot, with the former hitting six fours and five sixes during his 34-ball 71 and the latter cracking nine fours and four maximums during his 91 off 56 balls.
The Wankhede pitch is known for producing high-scoring limited overs matches and Wednesday was no different. Even when India suffered a minor hiccup with the dismissals of Rohit and Rishabh Pant (0) within four balls, the scoring rate didn’t suffer.
India captain Virat Kohli went into overdrive, hitting an incredible seven sixes and four fours in his unbeaten innings of 70 off just 29 balls. That took India’s total from around 200-odd to 240.
That put extreme pressure on the Windies top order and they found the going tough against the new ball that swung both ways. Openers Lendl Simmons and Brandon King found leading edges to deep point while a first-ball duck for Nicholas Pooran derailed the Windies at 17-3.
Captain Kieron Pollard fought valiantly during his innings of 68 from 39 balls but with only Shimron Hetmyer (41) making a substantial contribution, the Windies fell well short of the target. They were eventually restricted to 173-8.
For the hosts, seamers Deepak Chahar (2-20) and Mohammed Shami (2-25) were the pick of the bowlers, going for less than seven runs an over.
