Mon, 05 Dec 2011 - India vs West Indies, West Indies Tour of India 2011-12, 3rd ODI

West Indies halt India's home dominance

A sparkling 95 by Rohit Sharma went in vain as West Indies overcame India by 16 runs in the third ODI at Motera to keep the series alive. Chasing 261, the hosts lost their top-six for 105 but Rohit struck his third consecutive fifty to take them close but not close enough for a win.

The victory was set up by late fireworks from Darren Sammy and Andre Russell as West Indies overcame a sluggish start to post a respectable 260 on the board. They added 93 in the last seven overs to make the chase a difficult one and eventually India’s eleven game winning streak at home came to an end.

In front of a boisterous Motera crowd, India had a shaky start to the 261-run chase. Delhi boys Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir were prised out by Ravi Rampaul on the first two deliveries of the second over. While Sehwag played a loose shot on a wide delivery, Gautam Gambhir made fatal error of shouldering arms to an inswinger that trapped him plumb in front.

Despite the early blows, runs came for India at a good rate as Virat Kohli and Parthiv Patel hit some eye-catching strokes. Having taken the score to 43, Kohli fell because of an umpiring error, adjudged leg-before on a Sunil Narine delivery that was going down by some distance. However, Patel had no one to blame as Marlon Samuels produced sharp turn to beat his bat and disturb the furniture after he had made 35-ball 39.

Rampaul returned in the next over (16th) to remove Suresh Raina for yet another single-digit score as India reeled at 84 with half their side back in the hut. But, there was still hope in the form of Rohit Sharma, who had rescued India in the last two matches from similar positions. One thing he needed was support at the other end.

Ravindra Jadeja looked like doing that for a while but an agile Russell ran him out before the stand could damage West Indies. Things weren’t too bright for the hosts as they slipped to 105 for six in the 21st over.

Rohit then joined forces with Ashwin as the two set about rebuilding the chase with some common sense batting. Benefiting from two dropped chances by Sammy, they put the faltering Indian chase on track with 91-run partnership.

Ashwin played second fiddle to an in-form Sharma, who played effortlessly all around the park. By the time Ashwin was removed by Narine, India needed 65 runs from the last ten overs.

Vinay Kumar didn’t last long and Rohit Sharma fell five short of a superb ton as West Indies closed-in on a series saving win. Having given the batsmen a reprieve, Sammy made up for it with a direct hit that caught Rohit short of his ground.

Although, Abhimanyu Mithun kept the crowd interested with some big hits, the target was a bit more than India would have liked. The hosts were all-out for 244.Earlier, Virender Sehwag inserted West Indies due to chances of dew later on, after making right call at the toss. Vinay Kumar got the new ball to swing considerably, beat the bat many times as Lendl Simmons was caught behind on one such delivery that deviated away from the bat in the third over.

The Indian seamers used the new balls well to keep the lid on scoring even as Marlon Samuels tried to break free, targeting comeback man, Abhimanyu Mithun for back to back boundaries. At the other end, Danza Hyatt’s struggle as an opener ended on a harmless delivery, he edged one that was going down the leg side for Parthiv Patel to take his second catch. With runs drying up, West Indies crawled to 58 for 2 after eighteen overs.

In a bid to give the scoring some impetus, Samuels hit Umesh Yadav for a six and two boundaries in the next over. Along with Darren Bravo, he pushed West Indies towards three figures. But, an untimely injury forced Bravo to retire hurt on 26. Marlon Samuels carried on for a little while to bring up his 22nd fifty before R Ashwin cleaned him up with a quicker delivery.

Kieron Pollard and Dinesh Ramdin got starts to stabilize the innings but fell within space of four deliveries to leave West Indies in a tight spot at 181 for five. In between the two dismissals, Andre Russell got off the mark with a streaky boundary through the slips.

What followed was total carnage as Indian pacers dished out too many hittable deliveries, either bowling length or gentle full-tosses. Sammy started off by smashing Vinay over cover, another clatter in the 47th over off the same bowler took West Indies past 200. Sammy then got stuck into Mithun in the penultimate over- two boundaries were followed by couple of monstrous hits into the stands.

Andre Russell ensured that West Indies ended the innings on a spectacular note, two fours and a biggie that landed way beyond the straight boundary. While the last two overs yielded 43 runs for West Indies, the Sammy-Russell stand added 79 in 5.4 overs. The late blitz was enough to take the visitors to 260, which in the end proved enough.