IND vs WI, 3rd ODI: India Win By 4 Wickets, Seal 10th Consecutive Series Against Windies

This victory also marked Team India's 10th consecutive bilateral ODI series victory over the West Indies

Virat Kohli & Co ended the year 2019 on high as they beat West Indies in the third and the final ODI, played on Sunday in Cuttack. Chasing a challenging total of 316 runs, the men-in-blue registered a magnificent 4-wicket win to seal the series 2-1. This victory also marked Team India's 10th consecutive bilateral ODI series victory over the West Indies. With 19 wins from 28 games, the Indian cricket team's win percentage in One-Day Internationals is now 70.3 per cent—the second-best after England in this calendar year. Chasing 316, India got off to a steady start as openers KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma put on 122 runs for the first wicket. Their partnership saw both batsmen bring up their respective half-centuries. Windies finally got the breakthrough in the 22nd over as Rohit (63) was sent back to the pavilion by Jason Holder. Skipper Virat Kohli next came out to bat and along with Rahul, put on 45 runs for the second wicket. Alzarri Joseph got the better of Rahul (77) in the 30th over. Shreyas Iyer (7) and Rishabh Pant (7) both failed to leave a mark and India was reduced to 201/4, still, 115 runs away from the target. Kohli brought up his half-century in the 37th over of the Indian innings. But, India was given a big setback as Kedar Jadhav (9) was clean bowled by Sheldon Cottrell in the 39th over, and hopes of winning the match rested completely on Kohli's shoulders. Ravindra Jadeja next came out to bat and provided much-need support to Kohli at the other end. The duo put up a partnership of 58 runs to give much-needed stability to the side. However, with 30 runs required from the final four overs, Windies got the biggest breakthrough possible as Keemo Paul clean bowled Kohli (85) in the 47th over. In the end, Shardul Thakur and Jadeja ensured India's victory by four wickets and eight balls to spare. Jadeja and Thakur remained unbeaten on 39 and 17 respectively. Earlier, a late flourish led by captain Kieron Pollard and Nicholas Pooran helped the West Indies set up a competitive target of 316 for India to chase. Pooran scored 89 off 64 balls and his innings included 10 fours and three sixes. Pollard, on the other hand, smashed 74 off 51 balls, his innings punctuated by three fours and seven sixes. West Indies hit 32 runs off the last two overs, most of which came from Pollard alone. They hit a total of 118 runs in the last 10 overs.