India trounce Windies, seal T20 series

INDIA produced an emphatic batting display on Wednesday to trounce the West Indies by 67 runs at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai to seal the three-match T20 International series 2-1.

India, who were sent in to bat first by West Indies captain Kieron Pollard, amassed 240 runs for the lost of three wickets - the highest ever T20 total at the venue, with KL Rahul smashing 91 off 56 balls (nine fours and four sixes), Rohit Sharma 71 off 34 balls (six fours and five sixes) and captain Virat Kohli 70 off 29 balls (four fours and seven sixes).

Taking one wicket apiece for the Windies were pacers Pollard (for 33 runs), Kesrick Williams (for 37 runs) and Sheldon Cottrell (for 40 runs).

The West Indies task was made even harder by an injured right knee sustained by opening batsman Evin Lewis, during India's innings, which forced him to miss the rest of the match.

Early wickets by the Indian bowlers had West Indies reeling at 17/3 in the fourth over. Pollard blazed his way to 68 (39 balls, five fours and six sixes) while Shimron Hetmyer made 41 (24 balls, one four and five sixes) but the WI were always struggling to keep up with the run-rate and reached 173/8 in response.

Pacers Deepak Chahar (2/20),Mohammed Shami (2/25), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2/41) and left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav (2/45) were the wicket-takers for the hosts.

Both teams will turn their attention towards the three-match One Day International series, from December 15-22.