Jamaica, June 16: West Indies beat India by seven wickets at Sabina Park, Kingston to end the five-match ODI series on a winning note.
Chasing 252 runs to win, West Indies lost Lendl Simmons, who has been performing consistently so far in the series, with just 12 runs on the board.
Ramnaresh Sarwan, who replaced Simmons in the middle, played a determined knock of 75 off 94 deliveries before retiring hurt. Sarwan, who started experiencing cramps post the drinks break, played with a runner for four overs before deciding to leave the field. He was ably supported in his innings by Darren Bravo as the duo put together 103 runs.
Although they did not lose too many wickets early on, the slow start meant that the asking-rate kept creeping up.
With the departure of Sarwan, the onus was on Darren Bravo who took the charge to the Indian bowlers with eight overs remaining. He hit both R Ashwin and Amit Mishra for sixes in consecutive overs to keep their hopes alive as the required run-rate climbed to over eight runs per over. A brilliant piece of stumping by Parthiv Patel off Mishra sent back the southpaw for 86 runs. But with Marlon Samuels (28* runs) and the big-hitting Kieron Pollard (24*runs) at the crease, WI were still in the match.
With 23 required off 18 balls at the end of 47 overs, Vinay Kumar was hit for 20 runs in the 48th over by the duo of Samuels and Pollard. Samuels hit Kumar for consecutive boundaries to bring down the required run-rate to less than a run-a-ball while Pollard joined the party with a six and four off Kumar. With three runs required off the two overs, WI cantered home with eight balls to spare.
Amit Mishra, the most consistent spinner through the series, was the pick of the Indian bowlers with two wickets to his name.
Earlier, put in to bat by the West Indies, India failed to bat their full quota of 50 overs despite some good batting from Virat Kohli (94 off 104 balls) and Rohit Sharma (57 off 72 balls).
After losing the openers early, Virat Kohli anchored the Indian innings. His partnerships with Manoj Tiwary (22 runs) for 58 runs and then a 110-run stand with Rohit Sharma helped India set a competitive target for West Indies. A superb piece of fielding by Sarwan ended Kohli’s patient knock as he was run-out trying to sneak in an extra run and missed out on a well deserved century.
After the departure of Kohli, the Indian innings wobbled and later succumbed to the WI bowling after Sharma was castled by Anthony Martin. Seven Indian batsmen were back in the pavilion for just 62 runs. Skipper Suresh Raina once again failed with the bat and was out for a duck off Kieron Pollard. Yusuf Pathan hit a 29-ball 30 before edging one to the keeper. He was soon followed back by Mishra, Vinay Kumar and Ishant Sharma and the entire Indian batting line-up capitulated in 47.3 overs.
Local lad Andre Russell, who finished with a four-for, gave the hosts their first breakthrough with the wicket of Parthiv Patel. The pacer later wrapped up the lower-order with the wickets of Pathan, Mishra and Ishant Sharma and helped restrict India to 251 runs. He was well supported by Pollard and Kemar Roach who claimed two wickets each.
Brief Scores:India 251 runs all out in 47.3 overs (Virat Kohli 94, Rohit Sharma 57, Andre Russell 4/35) lost to West Indies 255 runs in 48.4 overs (Darren Bravo 86, Ramnaresh Sarwan 75*, Amit Mishra 2/46) by 7 wickets.
Man-of-the-Match: Andre Russell for his four-for that helped restrict India to 251 runs.
