Uzair Rizvi, BeyondHeadlines
West Indies took the honors in the last ODI as they defeated India by 7 wickets at Sabina Park in Jamaica.
Darren Bravo smashed 86 off 99 balls with Sarwan’s crucial 75 runs helped the hosts to set up an important win before the Test Series.
It was a late assault from the hosts as they scored 83 runs in last 40 deliveries inclusive 5 overs of power play to chase the target of 252 runs in 48.4 overs.
West Indies lost their in-form opener Simmons early for 6.
Barath was riding his luck being dropped twice and his two run-outs opportunity missed. Indians luck stuttered in the field. But he could not carry on as Mishra picked him up for 17.W.Indies were 53/2 after 17 overs.
Classy Darren Bravo then joined Sarwan as the duo shared a brilliant stand of 103 before Sarwan was forced to retire hurt on 75 because of cramps.
Sarwan managed to keep the hosts in the hunt, counter-attacking Indian bowlers. He played really well and anchored the innings with Bravo, who after an edgy start got into the rhythm and started playing his strokes majestically.
Bravo reached to his 50 and with 80 required off last 8 overs.
West Indies took the batting power play and Bravo exploded as he clobbered two sixes on Ashwin to bring his team back in the game. Mishra followed that up with a couple of freebies as Bravo took full toll.
He hammered the bowlers in the power play before Mishra’s googly deceiving him as Parthiv Patel stumped him on a score of 86.He shared a crucial stand of 57 with Samuels who played sensibly till the end.
Samuels was then joined by hard-hitting all-rounder Pollard who joined in the party and scored a huge six over mid-wicket on the bowling of Vinay Kumar.
They showed enough sense skill and power to turn the rest into a cruise.
Pollard hit the winning runs and Samuels ran straight to Gayle in the crowd. Sabina Park crowd was going lauding the efforts of their team. Skipper Sammy was over-joyed.
Amit Mishra was again in the wickets column as he scalped two wickets. Vinay Kumar got one.
With rest Indian bowlers doing well to keep the pressure on the hosts but failed to pick up the wickets. For, which they had to pay in the last power play.
Earlier, Darren Sammy finally won the toss and put India to bat first.
Virat Kohli struck 94 off 104 balls to help India set West Indies a challenging victory target of 252.
India made a wobbling start as they were reduced 21/2 in 7 overs sending both the openers Patel and Dhawan back in the hut.
Tiwary and Kohli steadied the innings. They amassed quick 58 runs off 9.4 overs. However, Tiwari after a stabilizing innings edged one to the keeper. He went for 22 runs. India was 79/3 in 16 overs.
Then came in-form Rohit Sharma, the pair got India back on course with an assured partnership.
The 110 runs stand seemed to squeeze the life out of Windies.They batted with great fluency.
Kohli looked in sublime touch with 10 fours in his knock 94; Sharma effortlessly played his game as he has been doing in the series.
Kohli was unlucky to score a century as he was beaten by a fantastic throw from Sarwan.
After his departure, Sharma gave away his wicket and the visitors batting collapsed as they lost their seven wickets for the addition of just 63 runs as the hosts dismissed Indians for 251 with 15 balls to spare.
Skipper Raina had a horrible series continued; he got out for a duck. He has gathered just 74 runs in 5 games.
Pathan was looking to excel but succumbed to the bouncy track for his 30 runs.
The contribution of the Indian tail was negligible as the last four could only muster up 10 runs.
West Indies pacers took a lot of help from this bouncy wicket. Andre Russell was the pick of the bowlers with 4/35 in 8.3 overs with Roach and Pollard claiming two wickets apiece.
Martin took one wicket while Simmons and Sammy were on the receiving end as they gave away 85 runs in their combination of 11 overs.
West Indies made one change bringing in Adrian Barath, who played his first match since injuring his hamstring on Sri Lankan tour in January.He replaced Danza Hyatt.
India made two changes to their fourth ODI team with Vinay Kumar and Shikhar Dhawan coming in at the expense of Praveen Kumar and Badrinath.
Wriddhiman Saha was left out again,he did not feature in any of the match.
Out of the action, West Indies Jerome Taylor and Chris Gayle were seen cheering the home team amidst the crowd.
Sammy praised his bowlers to restrict the Indians and his batsmen to take up this chase.
Where as Raina felt that his side were 25-30 runs short of the pre-determined target. Nevertheless, was cheerful after having the series in the bag.
Andre Russell was adjudged Man of the Match for his 4/35.
Rohit Sharma wonderful series with the bat earned him Man of the Series for him.He made 257 runs at an average of 85.
India won the ODI series by winning the first three games but West Indies made a stunning comeback to make it 3-2 in the end.
The Caribbean side made a similar comeback against Pakistan after losing the series earlier.
Curtains down to the ODI series. The first Test starts on Monday in Jamaica.
