India vs West Indies, Live Cricket Score, 3rd T20I: Pooran, Bravo power West Indies to 181/3

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INDIA INNINGS


OVER 1: Rohit welcomes Pierre with a boundary as he sweeps it over backward square. India 5/0

Rohit and Shikhar have come out in the middle while spinner Pierre opens the attack for Windies

WEST INDIES INNINGS

Maiden fifty for Nicholas Pooran (53*) and a fine knock by Darren Bravo (43*) , after initial hiccups, have guided West Indies to a fighting total of 181 for the loss of three wickets. Pooran and Bravo have put on a fine unbeaten stand of 87 runs for the fourth wicket to deny any chance to India to run through the Windies line-up after making early inroads.

OVER 20: Final over starts off with a six coming from Bravo's bat off Khaleel and then Pooran hits a boundary and a six off successive deliveries. Pooran hits 24-ball fifty as West Indies finish on 181/3.

OVER 19: Just one boundary in an otherwise fine over by Bhuvi. Nine runs from it. WI 158/3

West Indies reach 150-run mark in 18.1 overs

OVER 18: Khaleel has really bowled a fine over under pressure situation as he gives away just four runs. WI 149/3

Khaleel is back into the attack

OVER 17: Pooran is dealing in sixes as he hits one more and this time off Chahal to move the run-rate briskly. Fifty runs partnership between Bravo and Pooran too. WI 145/3

Chahal is back into the attack

OVER 16: Pooran has taken the baton from Bravo as he whacks two consecutive sixes off Bhuvi. 15 runs from it. WI 132/3

OVER 15: Bravo is on fire as he goes after Pandya to pick 16 runs from the over with the help of a cracking four and a lofty six over long-off. WI 117/3

OVER 14: One boundary from the over as Windies cross 100-run mark.

Bhuvneshwar comes back into the attack

OVER 12.5: OUT! Sundar hits back to clean up Ramdin, who hits him for a biggie earlier in the over. WI 94/3

OVER 11.5: DROPPED! Pandya drops an easy caught & bowled chance to give life to Ramdin. He gets his hands on it but couldn't grab it properly.

OVER 11: Chahal offers width and instantly gets punishment with Bravo hitting the ball straight down the ground for a four. 11 runs from the over. WI 78/2

West Indies reach 67/2 at the halfway stage

OVER 8.6: OUT! Chahal strikes again to pick his second and gets rid of in-form Hetmyer to give another blow to Windies. Krunal takes an easy catch in front of deep point. WI 62/2

OVER 8: Tight over by Sundar as he gives away only three runs from it. WI 59/1

OVER 6.1: OUT! Chahal strikes on his first ball to send Hope back. Hope goes for a slog sweep and top edges it at deep square leg where Sundar holds a well-judged catch to provide India breakthrough. WI 61/1

Yuzuvendra Chahal comes into the attack

OVER 6: Hope is not leaving anything to chance as he clobbers two awesome sixes off Pandya. WI 51/0

Krunal Pandya is into the attack

OVER 5: Hope welcomes Bhuvi with a fine pull shot that goes past the ropes in no time and two balls later he charges down the track to loft it over the in-field for a four towards mid-off region. WI 38/0

Bhuvneshwar Kumar comes into the attack

OVER 4: Hetmyer hits two fours off Sundar. He smashes the first one straight down the ground and then hits a cracking one wide of cover. 14 runs from it. WI 29/0

OVER 3: Expensive over by Khaleel. Hope hits a lofted four over point followed by a boundary by Hetmyer. WI 15/0

OVER 2: In-form Hetmyer welcomes Sundar with a fine boundary towards wide of square leg. WI 6/0

Washington Sundar comes into the attack

OVER 1: Fine start by young paceman Khaleel as he bowls a good line and length. Just one run from it. WI 1/0

Hope and Hetmyer have come to open for the West Indies while Khaleel has the new ball for India

TEAM CHANGES

West Indies have retained their playing XI while for India Chahal and Washington have come in place of Kuldeep and Bumrah.

Rohit Sharma: We would have bowled first here. We are playing with a long batting line-up. I don't think wicket is not going to change much. Two guys are missing from our squad. Bumrah and Kuldeep are missing, Chahal and Washington comes in. Rayudu has been terrific for us in 50-over-format and Khaleel in the past few games have done really well. I will try my best to get another 100. But I will work on the process. For me, all matter is how team performs. We want to finish the home season with a victory.

Carlos Brathwaite: We're gonna bat first. Majority of the teams bat first at Chennai. It's dry, but it tends to slow down later. It's the first time I am playing here. 5-6 million people back in the Caribbean, so they must be going to church right now and we want them to come back to a Windies win. We have a lot of pride to play for. We have to show pride, hunger and intensity to win. We're going in with the same XI.

TEAMS

India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Shikhar Dhawan, Rishabh Pant, Lokesh Rahul, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik(w), Krunal Pandya, Washington Sundar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, K Khaleel Ahmed, Yuzvendra Chahal

Windies (Playing XI): Shai Hope, Shimron Hetmyer, Darren Bravo, Denesh Ramdin(w), Nicholas Pooran, Kieron Pollard, Carlos Brathwaite(c), Fabian Allen, Keemo Paul, Khary Pierre, Oshane Thomas

TOSS: West Indies skipper Carlos Brathwaite wins toss, opts to bat against India

PITCH REPORT

"Slightly sticky texture in the soil on this track. The dew won't kick in much over here. The Windies will have to lift their game. A rather flat track here in Chennai despite the sticky-looking texture, and it's very likely to be a fantastic wicket for batting. Expect a high-scoring game here at Chennai." - Sunil Gavaskar and Murali Kartik


PREVIEW

When BCCI drew up the fixtures for the West Indies series, they probably had a post-Diwali dhamaka in mind at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. West Indies are the T20 world champions and one would have hoped that the venue would play host to a final-like atmosphere between a group of players who have played a huge role in making the Indian Premier League what it is today.

But sadly, barring Kieron Pollard and an off-colour Carlos Brathwaite, none of the IPL superstars turned up for the series and by the time the cricket caravan reached the city of Indian T20 champions, it was all done and dusted.

With India wrapping it up easily in Lucknow, there’s hardly any motivation left for Rohit Sharma’s boys and the team didn’t have a single practice session before the game - in fact, most of the team members reached the city late on Saturday evening.

“We have already won the series, (so) how does it even matter whether we look at the pitch or not,” a source close to the team management said.

Not that West Indies are keen to make an impression either. Their Test specialists have arrived here for preparation of the Bangladesh series in a week’s time and the focus of the entire team is around that tour.
“We are disappointed we couldn’t adapt well. In T20s we need momentum and partnerships, and we couldn’t do that,” West Indies wicketkeeper batsman Denesh Ramdin said on the eve of the match.

The only ones remotely interested in Sunday’s fare is probably the cricket fans in the city. There was huge disappointment when Chennai Super Kings had to shift base to Pune due to political unrest and it’s been a while that top stars have played here. Yes, they would have loved MS Dhoni in action — in fact, he was in Chennai on Thursday to attend a meeting of India Cements. But the Jharkhand bomber isn’t part of the national T20 set-up anymore.

Still, there were frequent queries for tickets and Tamil Nadu Cricket Association bosses suggested that it could be a full-house - barring the three stands of course that stay closed due to environmental issues.

And the fans would hope that once the ball rolls on Sunday, the players would forget that it’s a dead rubber and give it their 100 per cent.

While Rohit, who is on a roll, would love to build on the superb T20 form that he has been of late, this could well be a chance for the likes of Shreyas Iyer and Washington Sundar to show that they can make a mark before leaving for Australia.

Medium-pacer Siddarth Kaul, who was called up after Jaspreet Bumrah and Umesh Yadav were given rest, would also like to show that he is up for the job.