Mumbai, Dec 11 (UNI) Riding on blistering innings by KL Rahul (91 off 56), Rohit Sharma (71 off 34) and captain Virat Kohli (70 off 29), India posted a mammoth total of 240/3 against West Indies in the third and final T20I of the three match series at the Wankhede Stadium, here on Wednesday.
Windies now need a magical performance from their batsmen to chase a huge target of 241 to prevent India from sealing the series.
After being invited to bat first by West Indies, India were off to a flier. Openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul hammered Windies bowlers all over the ground and took India to 72 after 6 overs.
Even after the end of the powerplay, both openers didn't took their foot off the pedal as India crossed the 100 run mark in just 8 overs.
Rohit Sharma, who looked in fabulous touch, completed his 19th T20I fifty in just 23 balls. At the other end, KL Rahul too matched him shot to shot and got to his fifty in just 29 balls. They also scored highest opening partnership for India vs WI surpassing 123 of Rohit & Dhawan, that they hit in Lucknow last year.
In just his 354th international match, Indian opener Rohit Sharma hit the 400th six of his career to join Chris Gayle and Shahid Afridi on the exclusive list as only the 3rd batsman to do so.
Meanwhile, Rohit also became the 1st Indian (3rd overall) to hit 400 sixes in international cricket. Hitting his 400th six in his 354th match, Rohit is now the fastest to the feat with both Gayle (414) and Afridi (446) taking more matches than the Indian to do so.
Rohit, popularly known as 'Hitman', has so far hit 232 sixes in ODIs, 52 in Tests and 116 in T20Is.
After scoring 135-plus in just 12 overs, India were cruising towards a big score but Kesrick Williams took big wicket of Rohit Sharma (71 off 34) giving a big relief for West Indies.
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