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Thursday, June 16, 2011

Windies end series with dignity

West Indies finished off their ODI series against India in style with a thrilling seven-wicket victory at Sabina Park.
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After losing the first three ODIs, the Windies salvaged some pride with a 103-run win in Antigua on Monday and limited their series defeat to 3-2 today thanks to some inspired batting - first from Ramnaresh Sarwan and Darren Bravo and then Marlon Samuels and Kieron Pollard.
Having been set a challenging victory target of 252 - Virat Kohli contributed 94 and Rohit Sharma 57 but India lost their last seven wickets for just 63 runs - it did not look good for the hosts when openers Lendl Simmons (six) and Adrian Barath (17) departed early on.
But Sarwan and Bravo steadied the ship and kept the scoreboard ticking over nicely until the former retired hurt on 75 with his side 156 for two.
Sarwan, thought to be suffering from severe cramps, received treatment from the physio and had Simmons as a runner, but could not continue and headed back to the pavilion at the end of the 38th over.
Requiring a run-rate of eight per over for victory, Bravo made full use of his side's batting powerplays with a brilliant knock of 86 from 99 balls to take the game away from India.
His departure - stumped by Parthiv Patel off the bowling of Amit Mishra - left work to be done, though, at 213 for three in the 46th over.
But Samuels (28 not out off 25 balls) and Pollard (24 not out off 13 balls) were more than up to the task.
The duo pummelled Vinay Kumar for 20 runs in the 48th over to set up the triumph, with Pollard hitting the winning boundary in the following over to seal victory with eight balls to spare.
The tourists had earlier looked to be coasting on 188 for three in the 36th over, but ended up being dismissed for 251 in 47.3 overs.
Paceman Andre Russell - later named man of the match - was the pick of the Windies' bowlers with four for 35 from 8.3 overs, with Kemar Roach and Pollard claiming two wickets apiece.
India got off to shaky start as openers Patel (six) and Shikhar Dhawan (11) perished within the first seven overs.
Manoj Tiwary then made a brisk run-a-ball 22 before falling to Pollard, which brought Kohli and Sharma together in the middle.
The pair got India back on course with an assured 110-run fourth-wicket partnership but there was to be no century for Kohli, who was run out trying to come back for a second run following an accurate throw from Sarwan at deep square leg.
Captain Suresh Raina became Pollard's second victim in the following over without having troubled the scorers, which prompted the arrival of Yusuf Pathan.
Sharma was next to go, bowled by Anthony Martin, and, although Pathan made a quickfire 30 from 29 deliveries, the contribution of the India tail was negligible as Amit Mishra, Vinay Kumar and Ishant Sharma managed just two runs between them. Ravichandran Ashwin finished unbeaten on eight.

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