LAUDERHILL: Suryakumar Yadav was scratchy yet effective during his second half-century of the series but Indian batters struggled on a slow surface to post a par score of 165/9 against the West Indies in the fifth and final T20 International, here on Sunday.
On a pitch where stroke-making wasn't an easy proposition, Surya had to curb his flair a bit but still had enough firepower in his arsenal to hit four fours and three sixes in 45 balls.
It was a used track where the ball started gripping from the very first over bowled by left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein (2/24 in 4 overs), who made an impact against the Indian batters throughout the series.
Between him and off-spinner Roston Chase (1/25 in 4 overs), they bowled 8 overs for just 49 runs taking three wickets in the process.
Yashasvi Jaiswal (5) started with a reverse sweep but Hosein's delivery that stopped and turned with a tad extra bounce forced the batter to offer a simple return catch.
Shubman Gill (9) was unlucky as he would have survived had he taken a review with TV replays showing that Hosein's arm ball was drifting down the leg-side.
Tilak Varma (27 off 18 balls) was at his fluent best taking 19 off the final Powerplay over bowled by Alzarri Joseph.
But he also fell prey to the slowness of the track offering Chase a return catch.
This was Surya's 15th T20I fifty but it was on the scratchier side despite some glorious strokes including the six off Joseph over long-off to complete his milestone.
But it didn't help that Sanju Samson (13 off 9 deliveries) played a nothing shot without any footwork off Romario Shepherd (4/31 in 4 overs) to put more pressure on Surya.
Skipper Hardik Pandya (14 off 18 balls) couldn't get off the blocks and wasted too many balls before finally connecting one and then perishing off the very next ball as Shepherd used the slower ones to good effect.
Pandya's problems did have an effect as Surya couldn't provide the final flourish.
Axar Patel (13) and Mukesh Kumar, who hit a final ball boundary, pushed India to a par-score.