Carlos Brathwaite proud of fight shown by the Windies

India, up 2-0 going into the final game of the Twenty20 International series, had to field first after the Windies won the toss in the final fixture on Sunday, 11 November in Chennai.

It was a good call, and Darren Bravo (43*) and Nicholas Pooran (53*) played brilliantly to take the total to 181/3. Not enough, it proved in the end, as Shikhar Dhawan’s 92 and Rishabh Pant’s 58 helped India to a last-ball win, by six wickets.

“Need to give credit to Shikhar and Rishabh, who played very, very well. I'll also give credit to my group of guys, who started well with the ball. The partnership seemed to take the game away from us, but we stuck in, we kept our belief and we played till the end,” said Brathwaite after the defeat, which meant India won all three series on tour – the Tests 2-0, the one-day internationals 3-1, and the T20Is 3-0.

Good as Bravo was, scoring his runs in just 37 balls, it was Pooran who stood out in the Windies innings. Playing just his fifth T20I, Pooran slammed four fours and four sixes to score his runs in just 25 balls.

“I want you to realise it wasn't just his big hitting. He played some reverse scoops and he paced his innings very well,” pointed out Brathwaite. “Obviously, the sixes will take the highlight, but let's not forget how slowly he started.

“Getting the pace of the wicket, lining up the bowlers and then choosing the right time to strike. So I wouldn't just say it's big hitting, it was really entertaining and I enjoyed it from the sidelines.

“And, you know, as a team that's what we have – the ability for players to take the game away from the opposition and play a knock such as that. The challenge for us to do that on a more consistent basis. As a team, we want that performance again from him.”

The Windies now go to Bangladesh, and Brathwaite is confident about their chances.

“Team morale is up. What we are doing as a group is to find the best way we can use the resources that we have. In the first game, we showed our fight, we showed our belief with the ball. Second game, we were blown away, and in the third game we batted excellently, but the game got taken away by us from a massive partnership and we still fought till the end,” he summed up.

“I mean, three-nought looks bad, and it looks embarrassing for me as captain as well, but the performances we gave, and the fight and the fact that we came together to use our resources to the best of our abilities was the hallmark for this short series for me."