Related Links: West Indies Tour of India 2014 | India vs West Indies, 4th ODI at Dharamsala – Scorecard
India held on to a comfortable 59-run win in the fourth and final ODI at Dharamsala to take the abruptly ended 5-match Micromax Cup 2014 ODI Series against the West Indies 2-1. Two of these ODIs have been cancelled – the third ODI at Vizag due to Cyclone Hudhud and the fifth ODI at Kolkata due to the abandonment of the remainder of the tour by the West Indies’ team.
Above File photo: India won comfortably at Dharamsala despite Marlon Samuels’ century
Having posted 330 on the board thanks to Virat Kohli’s 20th ODI century, India was expected to have a cakewalk victory considering that the West Indian players were simply not focused on their job on the field. The tourists batted terribly at the start of their run chase and by the end of the 11th over they lost the big-hitting Dwayne Smith and Kieron Pollard with just 27 on the board!
Dwayne Smith was bounced out by Umesh Yadav to top edge a pull in the 2nd over for a 11-ball duck. Kieron Pollard had no clue to the moving new ball from Bhuvneshwar Kumar and eventually edged a back of length away swinger to first slip after a scratchy 31-ball 6!
Darren Bravo who came in as an opener scored 40 from 51 balls before he was bowled off a deflection from the thighpad in a pull shot off Akshar Patel in the 21st over. In the 28th over, Ravindra Jadeja struck twice by having Denesh Ramdin top edge a slog sweep to deep backward squareleg and Dwayne Bravo lbw for a duck to an arm ball.
It looked like an early finish to the match as the West Indies slipped to 121 for 5. However with a deep batting line-up that West Indies possessed and add to that the heavy dew, India couldn’t relax at all. Marlon Samuels took a liking to Ravindra Jadeja to clobber him out of the park at will. Along with Andre Russell, Samuels got West Indies slightly back in the game.
Just when the 7th wicket stand started to look dangerous, Umesh Yadav managed to beat a cute shot from Andre Russell (46 from 23 balls with 6 fours and 3 sixes) to strike the off stump. West Indies were 222 for 7 in the 41st over when Russell got out. Marlon Samuels had no chance to win the match on his own but he could get what he wanted, a 7th ODI century. It was also a second century for Marlon Samuels in the series.
The match was wrapped up in the 49th over as Mohammed Shami cleaned up the stumps of Samuels with a perfect yorker. Marlon Samuels was last man out for 112 from 106 balls with 9 fours and 6 sixes. India’s best bowler was Akshar Patel with figures of 2 for 26 in 1o overs while Bhuvneshwar Kumar was no less with figures of 10-2-25-2. Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami and Ravindra Jadeja took two wickets each as well. Jadeja had a mixed bag, taking two key wickets in an over which changed the match but at the same time was taken to the cleaners going for 80 runs in his 9 overs!
Virat Kohli got the Man of the Match award while there was no Player of the Series award given nor any trophy handed over to the Indian team.