On Sunday, India beat West Indies by 17 runs in the third T20I to complete the whitewash. It was India’s 9th consecutive win in the shortest format as they haven’t lost a game since their loss against New Zealand in the T20 World Cup. And after this series win, they also climbed up to the no.1 place in the ICC Men’s T20I ranking.
Currently, both England and India have 269 ratings but India has more points (10,484) than England (10474) in the same no. of matches (39). This has been the first time for India to reach the top of the T20I rankings since February 2016.
India clean swept West Indies in 3-match T20I series
Pakistan (266), New Zealand (255), South Africa (253) are other countries in the top-5 of the team rankings. The World Champions Australia (249) are still ranked no.6 despite their 4-1 win against Sri Lanka.
On Sunday, West Indies invited India to bat first and India didn’t get the best of starts as Ruturaj Gaikwad departed for 4. Shreyas Iyer played a good cameo but he was also caught in the deep after scoring 16-ball 25. Ishan Kishan played another scratchy inning of 31-ball 34 while Rohit Sharma’s experiment to move down the order didn’t work either. When Rohit Sharma got out, India was struggling at 93/4 in the 14th over.
#TeamIndia are now No.1 in the ICC Men's T20I Team rankings ?? pic.twitter.com/3LeMLGOtD3
— BCCI (@BCCI) February 21, 2022
But then Suryakumar Yadav and Venkatesh Iyer turned things around with sparkling knocks. Suryakumar 65(31) scored his 4th T20I fifty in his career while Venkatesh Iyer played another terrific cameo of 35(19). And India posted a total of 184/5.
In reply, West Indies showed some urgency in the powerplay. Despite losing wickets at regular intervals, they kept throwing bats at everything.
Nicholas Pooran scored his third consecutive fifty but among others, only Rovman Powell 25 (14), Roston Chase 12 (7) and Romario Shepherd 29 (21) are the ones who could reach double figures. For India, Harshal Patel was the most successful bowler with figures of 3/22 while Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, and Venkatesh Iyer picked two wickets each.
India’s next T20I series will be against Sri Lanka starting on February 24 in Lucknow. India needs to clean sweep the series to remain at the top of the rankings.
Also read IND vs WI Stats Review: West Indies Tour Of India 2022, 3rd T20I