India batter Shubman Gill expressed disappointment at not being able to complete his century in the third clash of the ODI series against the West Indies. India can walk away with a lot of positives after the match as their batting was great, led from the front by openers Shikhar Dhawan (58) and Shubman Gill (98*).
"Was hoping to get a hundred, but that (rain) was not under my control. Was very disappointed how I got out in the first two ODIs. I tried to play according to the ball and let the instincts take over," said Gill in a post-match presentation.
"I wanted only one more over, was hoping for that. The wicket played fantastically in all three games. The ball was gripping a bit after 30 overs. Happy with my performance," he added.
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.
India has completed a clean sweep of 3-0 over the hosts. Following this, both the teams will be squaring off for the five-match T20I series, starting from Friday.
Facing a target of 257 set in 35 overs after the match was hit by rain, the Windies batters never looked as if they were in the game and fell prey to a world-class bowling attack. Chahal (4/17), Siraj (2/14) and Thakur (2/17) were extremely economical with the ball and delivered timely blows to their opponent.
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. Hope-King added 47 runs to their stand before the former was stumped by wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson for 22 off 33 balls off 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 the crease.
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.
Shardul Thakur broke the 29-run stand bowling 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 danger man Pooran for 42 off 32 balls.
Thakur gave another jolt to the hosts, sending back Akael Hosein for just one run with skipper Dhawan taking a great catch.
Things continued to go downhill for Windies, with Paul dismissed for a duck by Chahal after he was caught by Thakur at point while attempting to reverse sweep. Holder running out of partners at this point was joined by Hayden Walsh. Walsh was the ninth wicket down at a score of 137 caught by Dhawan at slips.
Jayden Seales was the last player dismissed, sent back to the pavilion by Chahal. Windies were bundled out for 137. They lost the match by 119 runs and India completed a 3-0 clean sweep of the series.
Chahal finished as the leading bowler for India with 4/17. Siraj and Thakur also took two wickets. Krishna and Axar got one scalp each.