India win T20 cricket series with clean sweep

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India's opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan played a power-packed innings of 92 runs off 62 balls as India accomplished a 3-0 clean sweep against West Indies in the final Twenty20 international game of the three-match series on Sunday.

In cricket, an innings is one of the divisions of a match during which one team takes its turn to bat. The Indians, led by batting stalwart Rohit Sharma, won the third and final game of the series by six wickets in Chennai, India. Sharma, however, had an unforgettable day with the bat as he fell cheaply while chasing the Caribbean total of 181 for 3.

Playing for pride after suffering two back-to-back morale-crushing defeats in the previous two games, the hapless West Indies side showed some promise after their skipper Carlos Brathwaite chose to bat. Newcomer Nicholas Pooran smashed a magnificent unbeaten 53 and was well supported by a composed 43 not out from Darren Bravo of West India.

Players of West Indies celebrate the dismissal of Indian captain Rohit Sharma. /VCG Photo

India began their chase on a disappointing note as skipper Sharma, who struck an unbeaten 111 in Lucknow last week, was dismissed for four runs. However, his unbeaten opening partner Dhawan came to the rescue of his side and took the centre stage.

The left-hander was helped by a quickfire knock by Rishab Pant, who chipped in with 58-runs and shared a 130-run stand with Dhawan

India needed five runs from the final over and the match went down to the wire with the home side requiring just one run to win in the penultimate ball of the match.

However, Dhawan's dismissal in that delivery transformed the match into the last ball thriller. New Batsman Manish Pandey didn't make any mistake to clinch the match-winning run in the very last ball of the match to complete the 3-0 whitewash for his side.