Guyana:Half-centuries for Veda Krishnamurthy and Jemimah Rodrigues, and quality spin bowling led by Anuja Patil's 2/3, as India Women won the fifth and final T20I against West Indies by 61 runs and sealed the series 5-0.
Rodrigues and Krishnamurthy combined for a third-wicket stand of 117, lifting India from 17/2 to post 134/3 at the Providence Stadium here on Wednesday. With the spinners again proving a handful for the depleted West Indies side, the hosts could get no further than 73/7, conceding the series 5-0.
West Indies shuffled their batting order, pushing Hayley Matthews down the order. Natasha McLean took Mansi Joshi for a six on the second ball of the chase, but the innings unravelled quickly after the promising start.
Patil struck twice with the new ball in her second over, McLean caught in the deep and Chedean Nation trapped in front. The West Indies innings never got going after that, with all of Radha Yadav, Poonam Yadav and Harleen Deol taking a wicket, while pace bowler Pooja Vastrakar had the dangerous Matthews bowled, an ICC report said.
Earlier, Smriti Mandhana, captaining in place of Harmanpreet Kaur, won the toss, but had less success with the bat, falling in the fourth over as India slipped to 17/2. After a delay when the floodlights were fixed, Rodrigues and Krishnamurthy rebuilt steadily on a tricky track for batting. Seeing out the Powerplay, the duo went on the attack against Chinelle Henry.
Krishnamurthy survived a couple of chances to get to her fifty in 43 balls. It was her second half-century in 68 matches, and a much-awaited one, coming three years after her last one. She finished on a career-high 57 not out in 48 balls.
Rodrigues reached her milestone soon after in 55 balls" her sixth half-century in the format ? even as the duo posted India Women's highest third-wicket stand in T20Is. They gave the innings a strong finish without doing anything flashy, and the total proved to be well beyond the hosts' reach.
Brief score:
India - 134/3
West Indies - 73/7
(UNI)
