West Indies win third consecutive T20I against Australia to seal five-match series 3-0

The West Indies on Monday sealed the five-match T20I series against Australia as the Nicholas Pooran-led side convincingly beat the Kangaroos by 6 wickets with 31 balls to spare. Legendary batsman Chris Gayle shone with the bat as he scored 67 off just 38 balls to help his team chase down a low target of 142 runs in 20 overs. Gayle forged an important partnership with Pooran to reach the target in just 14.5 overs, giving them their third consecutive T20I victory against the Aussies and a 3-0 series-winning lead.

West Indies vs Australia 3rd T20I

Batting first, Australia got off to a good start as veteran openers Matthew Wade and Aaron Finch put up a 41-run partnership before the former was dismissed by Obed McCoy for 23 runs. Mitchell Marsh, who looked in good touch in the first two games against the West Indies, couldn't get going as he was trapped lbw by Fabian Allen for just 9 runs. Alex Carey was then dismissed by Hayden Walsh Jr., who also took the Australian captain Aaron Finch's wicket in the same over. 

Moises Henriques and Aston Turner added some crucial runs for Australia batting down the order as they scored 33 and 24 runs respectively. No Australian batsman hit a six during the course of their entire innings, except for top-scorer Henriques, who did it twice. Earlier, Australia had won the toss and elected to bat first, which later seemed to be a wrong decision on part of Finch as they couldn't capitalise on the good start. 

When the West Indies side came to bat in the second innings, Australian bowler Mitchell Starc provided an early breakthrough as he picked opener Andre Fletcher's wicket for just 4 runs. Lendl Simmons was the next batsman to be dismissed as he was sent back by Riley Meredith for 15 off 13 balls. Chris Gayle and Nicholas Pooran seized command and led the Windies closer to the target before Meredith dismissed the former. However, Gayle was not dismissed until he had hit his 14,000th T20 run, making him the first player to do so. Pooran remained not-out at 32 off 27 and finished the game alongside Andre Russell. 

(Image Credit: cricket.com.au)