Bowlers wreck Windies as India sweep ODI series
NEW DELHI : India's batting lacked its usual lustre but they still completed a 3-0 series sweep against West Indies after their bowlers secured a 96-run victory in the final one-dayer in Ahmedabad on Friday.
Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant scored half-centuries to help India weather a top-order wobble and post a competitive 265 all out in 50 overs.
West Indies, missing injured skipper Kieron Pollard, never really got going and were bundled out for 169 in 37.1 overs.
Prasidh Krishna and fellow quick Mohammed Siraj claimed three wickets apiece for India.
"We have ticked a lot of boxes in this series," home captain Rohit Sharma said after leading India to their first ODI series sweep against West Indies.
"With the top order not firing, it was good for the middle order to bail us out. Today they got us to a respectable total. This was the biggest positive."
Earlier, Alzarri Joseph rocked India with a two-wicket maiden over after Rohit elected to bat in the dead rubber.
Rohit dragged a ball onto his stumps to depart for 13 and, two balls later, Virat Kohli perished caught behind for a duck.
Odean Smith dismissed Shikhar Dhawan for 10 to reduce India to 42-3 in the 10th over before Iyer (80) and Pant (56) propped up the hosts with a 110-run stand.
Washington Sundar (33) and Deepak Chahar (38) chipped in with breezy cameos down the order before Jason Holder polished off the tail with bowling figures of 4-34.
Chahar impressed with the ball too and dismissed Brandon King and Shamarh Brooks in the same over as West Indies slumped to 25-3 in five overs.
Once Krishna dismissed Darren Bravo and Jason Holder, the game was effectively over for West Indies.
Stand-in skipper Nicholas Pooran made 34 and Smith smashed three sixes in his 18-ball 36 but it was not enough to avoid a heavy defeat.
The teams now move to Kolkata for a three-match Twenty20 series beginning on Wednesday.
India batsman KL Rahul and all-rounder Axar Patel have been ruled out of the T20 series with injuries.
(Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty in New Delhi; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
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