India wins series against West Indies

Dharamshala October 18, 2014 (Agencies) The West Indies, indifferent and insipid for a large part of the match, launched a sudden counter-attack, by Marlon Samuels, to give India a fright before succumbing to a 59-run defeat victory at the HPCA stadium on Friday. The West Indies pullout made the ODI here the decider of the series, which India won 2-1, though not the way they would have liked to.  The fielding was sloppy and there were dropped catches, including those of Ajinkya Rahane and Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

India, led by the well-paced 20th century of Virat Kohli (127) and his 138-run partnership with Suresh Raina (71) light up the day with an imposing



330/6. However, the pitch, full of runs, seemed to have dried out for the West Indies before Samuels (112, 106b, 9x4, 6x6) decided to go berserk. They folded up for 271 in 48.1 overs after electing to field.  West Indies’ innings was jolted early by the dismissals of Dwayne Smith and Kieron Pollard, who had consumed 31 balls for his six runs. Samuels then scripted two 50-run partnerships. First, with Darren Bravo (56) but looked threatening later with Russell with whom he raised 57 runs in mere 34 balls. Left-arm spinner Axar Patel, who replaced Amit Mishra, impressed in his debut with figures of 10-1-26-2, claiming crucial wickets of well-set Bravo and Darren Sammy. With the ball coming on nicely, India, after a long time, raised a solid opening stand of 70 runs, with both Rahane and Shikhar Dhawan feasting on the ordinary attack.

Rahane’s innings was halted by Sulieman Benn when the former tried to sweep him only to be hit on the pads. And Raina, who is enjoying a rip-roaring form, was  too happy to take over.  Raina, with five soaring sixes, was unlucky to miss out on his century but Kohli was not to give away the opportunity that had come to him after months. A flick made him the fastest to bring up the 20th ODI century in 133 innings overtaking Sachin Tendulkar who had taken  197 innings to reach the milestone.