Tiwary century fuels India win

Pollard smashes counter-attacking maiden ton but only delays the inevitable

It meant that the sizeable Chennai crowd wouldn’t get a Sunday treat from Virender Sehwag, who was given a rest for the fifth one-dayer against the West Indies. But there was plenty to cheer for the crowd as Manoj Tiwary, who notched up his maiden ODI hundred, and Virat Kohli, who offered another glimpse of his fast maturing cricketing mind with a fifty, played lead roles in India’s 34-run victory.

India’s 267/6 was a par for the course total, and the West Indies couldn’t recover after their top five batsmen were dismissed for a score of 78 that eventually transpired into 233 all out. Kieron Pollard’s belligerent hundred (119, 110b, 4x4, 10x6), and his forceful sixth-wicket partnership with Andre Russell that yielded 89 runs in just 13.1 overs only helped to reduce the margin of defeat.

Of course, Tiwary and Kohli didn’t exhilarate the spectators like Sehwag probably would have done, but their efforts were no less scintillating.

For Tiwary, it was a day of atonement. The Bengal youngster had been struggling to erase the stigma of that black February 3 at Brisbane three years ago when Brett Lee marred his debut with a blistering yorker. Since then, he has played just four one-dayers over three years, but Tiwary didn’t let the past cloud his thoughts and judgment.

Tiwary also has to deal with troubles such as the fact that he wouldn’t get another match for India for quite some time to come, and he had come to the crease with India tottering at 0 for two after Kemar Roach jettisoned Ajinkya Rahane and Parthiv Patel in the first two balls of the afternoon. The 26-year-old wasn’t bothered by that as well.

The West Indian attack was not more than honest, but the 22-yard strip here that offered a hint of double bounce demanded a phlegmatic approach. Tiwary was equal to the task, and the fact that a calm Kohli was at the other end too might have helped his cause immensely. The duo realised 159 runs during their fourth-wicket association.

Never in hurry for a large part of his innings, Tiwary chose a rather unexpected moment to showcase his ability to clear the fence, when he was on 90. The six off leggie Anthony Martin helped him to move closer to the three-figure mark that he brought up with a boundary off Sunil Narine. He couldn’t built on that hundred, returning to the hut after suffering cramps, but Tiwary will now no longer be bothered about that jet-lagged, embarrassing day at Brisbane.

Irfan Pathan too made his return to international cricket a memorable one, dismissing Lendl Simmons for nought off the first ball, and from that moment the Indian bowlers were all over West Indian batsmen like a bad rash. Kieran Powell, Marlon Samuels, Jason Mohammad, who made his ODI debut, and Denesh Ramdin made only fleeting appearances as the visitors stared at a massive defeat.

But life wasn’t completely squeezed out of the West Indian innings as Pollard and Russell stitched together an entertaining alliance that threatened to shift the course of the match. Pollard who had been mute spectator in the previous four matches, but the Trinidadian displayed his awesome striking powers as balls kept disappearing into the far corners of the stadium.  However, he needed a huge slice of luck to reach his maiden one-day hundred, Kohli dropped a sitter at long-on off Rahul Sharma as the ball trickled on to the ropes. But the target was beyond that isolated thunder.

Score board

India

Gambhir lbw Martin    31
(41b, 2x4)
Rahane lbw Roach    0
(1b)
Parthiv b Roach    0
(1b)
Tiwary (retired hurt)    104
(126b, 10x4, 1x4)
Virat c Samuels b Martin    80
(85b, 5x4)
Rohit b Narine    21
(26b, 1x4)
Raina (not out)    16
(12b, 2x4)
Pathan (run out)    4
(10b)
Extras (LB-6, W-3, NB-2)    11
Total (for 6 wkts, 50 overs)    267
Fall of wickets: 1-1(Rahane), 2-1 (Parthiv), 3-84 (Gambhir), 4-241 (Kohli), 5-250 (Rohit), 6-267(Pathan).
Bowling: Roach 8-0-46-2(nb-2), Russel 6-0-31-0, Narine 10-1-41-1, Sammy 5-0-28-0, Martin 10-0-47-2,Samuels 9-0-54-0 (w-2), Pollard 2-0-14-0 (w-1).
Scoring Pattern: 5 overs: 19/2, 10: 49/2, 20: 90/3, 30: 149/3, 40: 214/3, end of innings: 267/6 in 50overs.
Power Play 1: 1-10: 49/2,Power Play 2: 16-20: 17/1, Power Play 3 (batting): 35-40: 33/0.

WEST INDIES

Simmons lbw Pathan    0
(1b)
Powell b Pathan    15
(16b, 3x4)
Samuels c Patel b Mithun    6
(11b, 14)
Mohammad lbw Mithun    2
(21b)
Ramdin lbw Jadeja    14
(20b, 1x4)
Pollard c Rahane b Raina    119
(110b, 4x4, 10x6)
Russel (run out)    53
(42b, 5x4, 3x6)
Sammy c Rahane b Jadeja    3
(14b)
Narine b Sharma    8
(15b, 1x4)
Roach b Jadeja    0
(15b)
Martin (not out)    0
(0b)
Extras (LB-2, W-11)    13
Total (all out, 44.1 overs)    233
Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Simmons), 2-23 (Powell), 3-29 (Samuels), 4-36 (Mohammad), 5-78 (Ramdin), 6-167(Russel), 7-181 (Sammy), 8-195 (Narine), 9-213 (Roach).
Bowling: Irfan Pathan 9-1-42-2(w-5), Abhimanyu Mithun 7-1-32-2 (w-4), Suresh Raina 6.1-0-24-1 (w-2), Ravindra Jadeja 10-0-62-3, Rahul10-0-45-1, Tiwary 1-0-15-0, Kohli 1-0-11-0. Scoring Pattern: 5 overs: 29/2, 10: 36/4, 20: 104/5, 30: 173/6, 40: 211/8, End of Innings: 233 all out in 44.1overs.  Power Play 1: 1-10: 36/4,Power Play 2: 33/0, Power Play 3 (batting): 36-40: 22/1.