Windies pull one back

 

It took four attempts, but finally the West Indies could claim a victory over India. After drawing the first Test, and narrowly losing the first two ODIs, they pulled back in a pulsating finale to keep the ODI series alive at 2-1.

But it took another herculean effort in the field to subdue the Indian tail, which just would not stop wagging.

Rohit Sharma marshalled the lower order with a brilliant 95 off 100 balls (10 fours and a six) after India had looked dead and buried at 105/6 chasing 261. Sharma found company in R Ashwin and Abhimanyu Mithun, but Ravi Rampaul’s death bowling and Darren Sammy’s brilliant direct-hit run out of Sharma tilted the scales.

Earlier, most of the West Indies top order had fired, culminating in Andre Russell and Sammy clubbing 79 in 5.4 overs, including 52 off the last three.

In truth, the seeds of India’s defeat were sown when Rampaul removed the prolific Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir after they had faced a combined total of two balls. – Staff reporter, SportsCentral

• Follow SportsCentral on Twitter