JOIN USWindies pull one back with super all-round display
After registering a competitive 249 for eight, the Caribbeans bundled out India for 146 to celebrate a massive 103-run win at the Sir Vivian Richards stadium, thwarting India’s ambitions of a series whitewash as the five-match series now stands at 3-1 with a match to go at Kingston.
The victory was also a painful reminder of the ability of this West Indian side, infested with inconsistency of high levels. Had they managed to come up with a similar high-energy performance in the earlier matches, the series would have had more exhilarating moments.
The highlight of the West Indian win was the outings of Kieron Pollard, Anthony Martin and Andre Russell, contributing heavily at various stages. After losing five wickets for 103 runs, Pollard started the recovery process with a well-paced half-century, Russell played a blitz that brought West Indies close to the 250-run mark before chipping in with crucial wickets and leg-spinner Martin ripped the heart out of India’s middle-order with a fine spell, underlining the potential of this side even without the likes of Chris Gayle, Jerome Taylor and Fidel Edwards.
Let’s begin with Martin. Once West Indies rested their first-choice leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo, the onus was directly on Martin to choke the Indian batsmen, adept at playing spin. He did that to perfection, grabbing four wickets, and the temperament he showed against a set of in-form batsmen was quite remarkable.
The local boy winkled out Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, and it was nearly impossible to compensate the loss of three premier batsmen. India’s worries were compounded by the woeful form of Yusuf Pathan. The right-hander had a splendid chance in this series to cement his place in the one-day side, but he hardly looked the fearsome batsman he is, playing rash shots to get out.
Pathan came out to bat when India were wobbling at 111 for five, but there was still a ray hope as a highly confident Rohit was still there, looking solid as he has been throughout this series. Pathan just needed to stay in the middle and support his younger colleague, but he preferred to go for his shots straightaway.
The poor strategy fetched an equally poor result as he holed out to Kemar Roach in the deep off Lendl Simmons, who impressed during the West Indian innings with a fluent fifty. Raina too was guilty of impatience as a boundary-less stay for 19 balls and an ever-swelling asking rate seemed to have affected his nerves, eventually spooning Martin straight into the hands of Pollard inside the circle.
Martin never attempted to spin the ball viciously, but exploited the decent bounce on the pitch to optimum effect to push the Indians to their doom. Russell was less emphatic in his effect with the ball, accounting for S Badrinath, who might just have blown away a golden chance to remain in the range of the selectors’ radar, R Ashwin and Praveen Kumar.
Russell was more authoritative with the bat, smashing a 14-ball 25 that spurred the home side to a defendable total, and with the ball he played the role of Martin’s support cast to good effect, speeding up his team’s win. The win should motivate the West Indies to do an encore in the final one-dayer, and that could be a huge boost for the team ahead of the Test series.
SCORE BOARD
WEST INDIES
Simmons (run out) 67
(78b, 3x4, 3x6)
Hyatt c Tiwary b Ishant 1
(4b)
Sarwan c Tiwary b Praveen 1
(12b)
Bravo c Tiwary b Mishra 15
(36b, 2x4)
Samuels lbw Mishra 8
(21b)
Pollard c Ishant b Ashwin 70
(72b, 6x4, 2x6)
Baugh c Kohli b Praveen 39
(57b, 3x4)
Russell c Kohli b Praveen 25
(14b, 3x4, 1x6)
Sammy (not out) 1
(3b)
Roach (not out) 4
(6b)
Extras (LB-7, W-8, NB-3) 18
Total (for 8 wkts, 50 overs) 249
Fall of wickets: 1-3 (Hyatt), 2-12 (Sarwan), 3-65 (Bravo), 4-89 (Samuels), 5-103 (Simmons), 6-199 (Pollard), 7-240 (Baugh), 8-240 (Russell).
Bowling: Praveen 10-3-37-3 (w-1), Ishant 10-0-60-1 (w-5, nb-3), Ashwin 10-1-39-1, Mishra 10-3-56-2 (w-1), Pathan 6-0-24-0 (w-1), Tiwary 4-0-26-0.
Scoring pattern: 5 overs: 12/2; 10: 38/2; 20: 77/3; 30: 111/5; 40: 164/5; end of innings: 249/8 in 50 overs.
Power Play 1: 1-10 overs: 38/2; Power Play 2: 11-15 overs: 27/0, Power Play 3 (batting): 43.1-48 overs: 57/1.
INDIA
P Patel c&b Sammy 26
(32b, 3x4)
Tiwary c Baugh b Sammy 2
(17b)
Kohli st Baugh b Martin 22
(33b, 1x4)
Badrinath c Baugh b Russell 12
(27b, 1x4)
Rohit c Bravo b Martin 39
(47b, 1x6)
Raina c Pollard b Martin 10
(19b)
Pathan c Roach b Simmons 1
(2b)
Ashwin c Samuels b Russell 15
(27b)
Praveen c Sammy b Russell 6
(13b)
Mishra (not out) 5
(14b)
Ishant st Baugh b Martin 0
(3b)
Extras (B-4, LB-2, W-2) 8
Total (all out, 39 overs) 146
Fall of wickets: 1-20 (Tiwary), 2-41 (Parthiv), 3-62 (Badrinath), 4-82 (Kohli), 5-111 (Raina), 6-114 (Yusuf), 7-124 (Rohit), 8-138 (Praveen), 9-145 (Ashwin).
Bowling: Roach 8-1-22-0, Sammy 9-0-43-2, Russell 7-0-16-3 (w-1), Pollard 4-0-20-0 (w-1), Martin 10-0-36-4, Simmons 1-0-3-1.
Scoring pattern: 5 overs: 19/0; 10: 42/2; 20: 79/3; 30: 120/6; end of innings: 146 all out in 39 overs.
Power Play 1: 1-10 overs: 42/2; Power Play 2: 11-15: 13/0; Power Play 3 (batting): 37.1-42 overs: 6/2.