With the series already in the bag after Team India took a 2-0 lead in the ODI series, the third and final ODI had essentially become a dead rubber. For India, it was an opportunity to drive home their superiority with another whitewash, while hosts West Indies were desperate to avoid further humiliation and wanted to get some sort of consolation.
Shubman Gill, who had played just three ODI matches for India prior to the tour of West Indies, started as an opener along with Shikhar Dhawan in the Caribbean. In the absence of usual suspects like Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul, the 22-year-old grabbed the opportunity with both hands.
He had gotten off to amazing starts in both the first two matches but ended up throwing his wicket away much to the frustration of teammates, fans and pundits. In the first match, he made a schoolboy error of turning his eyes away from the ball while taking a lackadaisical single. In the second ODI, he got out to Kyle Mayers after wildly mistiming a ‘Dilscoop’ shot.
However, in the third match, he looked calm, composed and confident. Gill showed plenty of restrain and only punished balls that were angled to him or outside off. He trudged his way to yet another sublime half-century.
Meanwhile, the weather Gods decided to play spoilsport. The players came on to the field after a two-and-a-half-hour-long break and Gill decided to press his foot on the accelerator. Out came the slog sweeps and the pull shots.
While he was standing on the precipice of his maiden century in this format at the highest level of cricket, fate proved to be a cruel mistress once again. It started pouring in Port of Spain while he was batting at 98* and the Indian innings was called off, leaving Gill stuck just two runs short of a deserving maiden ton. India finished with 225/3 on the scoreboard in 36 overs.
In the shortened 35-over second innings, West Indies needed to chase down a difficult DLS target of 257 and they never managed to get going. Led by Yuzvendra Chahal’s four-wicket-haul, the hosts continued to lose wickets at regular intervals.
Brandon King and Nicholas Pooran tried their best to put up some form of resistance but eventually, both batters fell for 42 as West Indies got bowled out for just 137, thus, losing by 119 runs and conceding a 3-0 series defeat to India.
For his consistent performances with the bat, Shubman Gill was awarded both the Player of the Match as well as Player of the Series.
