Mumbai, Dec 11: KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were at their brutal best with the bat as clinical India hammered West Indies by 67-runs in the third and deciding Twenty20 International here on Wednesday (December 11). With this emphatic win, the Men In Blue registered their third successive T20I series victory over Men In Maroon.
The 'Maximum City' witnessed the maximum entertainment as the trinity of Rahul (91 off 56 balls), Rohit (71 off 34 balls) and captain Kohli (70 not out off 29 balls) contributed in a total of 240 for 3 which completely took factors like, dew, flat-track out of the equation.
An asking rate of 12 from the start would be Herculean for any team and West Indies could only muster 173 for 8 with Mohammed Shami (2/25 in 4 overs) enjoying a good outing in his first game of the series.
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With a cushion of runs on the board, Deepak Chahar (2/20 in 4 overs) was also steady while Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2/41 in 4 overs) and Kuldeep Yadav (2/45) also got wickets even though they were a bit expensive.
West Indies were never in contention and 'local man' Kieron Pollard's (68 off 39 balls) five sixes in familiar surroundings was nothing more than a consolation for the visitors. While this is only a bilateral series but the manner of victory taking into context West Indies as a T20 opposition and the swagger with which the hosts defended a total will only help them gain confidence.
Here are a few records that were created during the match:
# There were 16 sixes in the Indian innings that lit up the Mumbai skyline with Rohit hitting five, Rahul four and surprising everyone, 'boundary man' Kohli had seven of them in all.
# Rohit Sharma became the fastest batsman to hit 400 sixes in international matches. The Indian swashbuckler took just 354 games.
# India's record in a three-match bilateral series decider:
Matches - 10.
Won - 9; Lost 1 (vs NZ, Hamilton, 2019)
# Most sixes against India in India (T20I):
15 West Indies Hyderabad 2019
12 West Indies Trivandrum 2019
12 West Indies Mumbai Wankhede Stadium*
# Virat Kohli hit most sixes in a T20I series/tourney for India (13 sixes).
# Virat Kohli became first Indian with 1000+ T20I runs at home (1064 runs)
# Virat Kohli slammed fastest international fifty by an Indian captain (21 balls).
# Virat Kohli won his sixth player of the series award in T20I cricket.
# Fastest fifty for Virat Kohli off 21 deliveries.
# Virat Kohli slammed his 24th T20I half-century - most by any batsman.
# Kieron Pollard slammed his fourth T20I half-century with his knock of 68 against India.
# T20I fifties for Pollard
54(26)* v Aus Gros Islet 2012
63(29)* v NZ Lauderhill 2012
58(45) v India Providence 2019
52(33)* v India Mumbai WS 2019
# Most defeats in T20Is:
61 Sri Lanka/ West Indies
60 Bangladesh
56 New Zealand
55 Pakistan
54 Zimbabwe.
# Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli now have an equal number of runs in T20Is i.e. 2633 and are joint-highest. With his knock of 71 runs in the third T20I, Rohit reached 2633 runs in 104 T20Is. While Kohli now has an equal number of runs in 76 T20Is.