Iyer, Chahar shine as India complete clean sweep

Even if the third and final ODI between India and West Indies was to be a humdinger, the spotlight was unlikely to veer from the mega IPL auction in Bengaluru over the weekend. That it was anything but a close contest just added to the air of banality at the Narendra Modi Stadium here on Friday.

India clinched a resounding 96-run victory for their first ever 3-0 clean sweep over the West Indies. Chasing 266, West Indies were bundled out for 169.

It was perhaps just a coincidence that quite a few architects of India’s victory on Friday will go under the hammer on Saturday and Sunday. Shreyas Iyer – considered a hot prospect to become captain of one of the 10 franchises – made 80 off 111 balls. The nature of his innings was in keeping with the game situation and very different from T20 requirements but runs one day before the auction will only reinforce his credentials. It’s even more creditable when you consider that he had just recovered from Covid.

While Iyer’s effort and his 110-run stand with Rishabh Pant (56) led India’s recovery from 42/3, Deepak Chahar’s all-round impact was no less significant. He scored a run-a-ball 38 and took two wickets with the new ball to break the back of the West Indian top order. Having hit two half-centuries in his previous two ODI innings, Chahar has good reason to wonder why he isn’t a regular starter. He was left out for the first two games here.

Mohammed Siraj chipped in with three wickets and Prasidh Krishna was exemplary again. Fresh from taking 4/12 in the second ODI, the Karnataka pacer backed it up with figures of 3/27, drawing the outside edges of Darren Bravo and Jason Holder before wrapping up proceedings with the wicket of Alzarri Joseph. Iyer and Chahar go into Saturday’s auction with a base price of ₹2 crore each. The bidding for Krishna will start from ₹1 crore.

In contrast, the positives for the visitors were few. Holder didn’t let his standards drop while all-rounder Odean Smith and pacer Joseph showed some spark. There was a glimmer of hope for the West Indians when they took the first three wickets quickly in the afternoon. But Iyer and Pant ensured India were back on track. Pant’s happy knack of finding the boundary meant he injected a lot of the early momentum into the partnership. Left-arm spinner Fabian Allen bore the brunt of Pant’s aggression in just his second over, his eyes following the ball sail over the long-on boundary for the left-hander’s only six.

Iyer wasn’t always convincing. His trademark shuffle to the off side before backing away to create room was employed quite a few times, but it seldom came off. While fluency was hard to find, he still managed to bring up his ninth half-century in ODIs. It took him 74 deliveries. Pant got there off 47 balls, but he was dismissed in the very next over. Suryakumar Yadav came and went.

The key for India at that stage was for Iyer to graft his way to a century before capitalising on the final few overs. It wasn’t to be. He attempted to send a full delivery by Hayden Walsh over the long-off boundary, offering Bravo a straightforward catch in the deep instead.

Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan’s low scores and Virat Kohli’s no score didn’t hurt India. Joseph has made inroads into the Indian batting line-up consistently in this series, and Friday was no different. He removed Sharma and Kohli within the space of three balls in the fourth over. Sharma got an inside edge on to the stumps, a loose drive away from his body sans any feet movement contributing to his downfall.

Could Kohli have done anything different? Not really. Off his second ball, Kohli looked to flick one that would have been called wide down the leg side if he hadn’t connected. But he got a faint tickle on it through to Shai Hope behind the stumps. A wry smile was all Kohli offered, barely believing that he had to walk back without opening his account.