Rare record for India's spinners in thumping win over West Indies in final T20I
The trio of Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav and Ravi Bishnoi ran through the hapless Caribbean side.
In absence of Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal, India fielded an inexperienced spin trio of Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav and Ravi Bishnoi in the fifth and final T20I against the West Indies in Florida on Sunday (August 7).
With a total of 59 T20I caps among them, the Axar-Kuldeep-Bishnoi spin attack was one of the youngest India have ever fielded in white-ball cricket. Yet, by the end of the day, the trio could proudly boast of a rare record to their name in the shortest format, where all 10 wickets were shared between them.
The match in the USA proved to be the first-ever instance of a set of spinners running through a side on their own, taking all opposition wickets in men's T20I cricket.
Previously a set of spinners had recorded a maximum of nine breakthroughs among them during an international match in the shortest format.
Axar-Kuldeep-Bishnoi bag rare T20I record against West Indies
That record was achieved by Zimbabwe back in 2008 during a T20I encounter against associates Canada.
Zimbabweans spinners Ray Price, Prosper Utseya, Graeme Cremer, Keith Dabengwa and Cephas Zhuwao shared nine wickets between them and ran through the hapless Canadians in a massive win.
Going past them this week, the trio of Axar, Kuldeep and Bishnoi combined brilliantly to take all 10 wickets against the Calypso Kings.
Axar build inroads into the West Indies batting line-up with a spell of 3 for 15 off his 3 overs, before Kuldeep and Bishnoi dominated the hosts' middle and lower-order.
Watch: Rohit Sharma shares special moment with crowd in Florida after win against West Indies
Kuldeep bagged figures of 3 for 12 on his comeback, while Bishnoi once again showcased his talent and promise with 4 wickets for just 16 runs.
Dismissing the poor West Indies batting line-up for just 100 runs in less than 16 overs, they helped India defend their massive score of 188/7, enabling one of the biggest wins for their side in terms of the margin of victory.
India finished the tour with a 4-1 T20I series scoreline, having earlier won the ODI series 3-0.