Related Links : India’s Tour of West Indies 2011 : Scorecard of West Indies Vs India, 5th ODI at Kingston
An all-round show from West Indies earned them a hard fought victory by 7 wickets in the Fifth and Final ODI at the Sabina Park in Kingston, Jamaica. The match saw mostly dull batting display followed up by some flashes of brilliance and it was West Indies who prevailed in the end chasing down a modest target of 252 thanks to Darren Bravo’s six hitting abilities.
Toss and Teams
As a welcome change, West Indies won the toss and they had India to bat first for the first time in the Series! It was going to be a pacy and bouncy wicket at Sabina Park unlike the previous two venues which were slow and low. India made two changes with Shikhar Dhawan and R Vinay Kumar replacing S Badtinath and Praveen Kumar. West Indies made one change with Adrian Barath returning back from injury to replace Danza Hyatt.
India Innings
It was a good start for the fielding side making optimum use of the conducive conditions for fast bowling. India was on the backfoot losing its openers cheaply at 21 for 2 by the 7th over. The first to depart was Parthiv Patel (6 from 11 balls) who went for a pull off Russell which was spliced up in the air around squareleg where Martin ran backwards and came up with a superb diving catch to his right. By the completion of the 7th over, the scratchy Shikhar Dhawan (11 from 26 balls) edged his upper cut off Kemar Roach to give catching practice to Sarwan at first slip.
What followed the two early strikes was a decent third wicket stand between the solid Virat Kohli and a determined Manoj Tiwary who struck a sweet six playing a pick up shot off Sammy. The Indian duo put up a promising stand of 58 runs before Manoj Tiwary (22 from 22 balls) in an attempt to steer Pollard to thirdman in the 16th over ended up tamely edging it behind to the keeper. The visitors bounced back again and this time it was a big partnership between Kohli and Rohit Sharma, two players in form and the result was a perfect launching pad for a total of 280 atleast!
Just when Virat Kohli was easing through to a century came a needless run out in the 36th over. Kohli who flicked Roach towards deep backward squareleg wanted to convert a single into a second run but only to be found wanting by an accurate throw to the keeper from Sarwan. Kohli had to settle for 94 (from 104 balls with 10 fours) while carrying India to 189 for 4. This huge stand was screwed up by Skipper Suresh Raina (0) who ambitiously wanted to drive Pollard inside out over covers for a six in just the fourth ball he was facing but only to get caught around the boundary.
The batting powerplay which was taken in the 43rd over proved to be a disaster as India went onto lose four wickets adding up only 33 runs! A well set Rohit Sharma (57 from 72 balls with 2 fours and a six) got too overconfident looking to slog sweep Anthony Martin for another six but only to miss his shot and get clean bowled leaving India at 225 for 6. Yusuf Pathan like Raina failed playing a terrible untimely shot to lose his wicket. It was a flashy cut shot from Pathan (30 from 29 balls with 2 fours and a top edged hook which went for a six) off Russell which was caught behind in the 46th over.
West Indies wasted no time in cleaning up India for 251 in 47.3 overs from a stage of 245 for 7. Andre Russell was the man with the golden arm taking 4 for 35 in 8.3 overs. Pollard with 8-0-39-2 and leggie Anthony Martin with 10-1-39-1 also bowled well for the hosts.
West Indies Innings
West Indies had an incredibly dull start to their chase with the first powerplay yielding only 29 runs. R Vinay Kumar with his innocuous medium pace bagged figures of 5-2-6-1 in his first spell! The slow start was mainly because the aggressive Lendl Simmons departed early jumping down the track and slashing Vinay Kumar into the hands of thirdman. The other opener Adrian Barath who was making a comeback after a long gap curbed his natural game and started to play too defensively with Sarwan who too did the same. In the 16th over, Amit Mishra broke this partnership when Adrian Barath (17 from 46 balls) played all around a tossed up googly to get hit on the pad for an lbw.
The hosts were at 53 for 2 when Darren Bravo joined Sarwan and the two put up a solid partnership which was slow to begin with. Ramnaresh Sarwan freed his arms eventually but he got severely cramped up to leave the park retired hurt after the 38th over. He scored a steady 75 from 94 balls with 5 fours and a six carrying WI to 156 for 2. It was still plenty of runs to get from very few balls and Bravo took the task of bringing down the required run rate with his clean strikes. Half-a-dozen sixes flew from his bat as West Indies moved quickly to 213 for 3 in the 46th over when he got stumped out after getting beaten by a tossed up googly from Mishra. Bravo scored a superb 86 from 99 balls which proved him to be a classy performer at this level.
It wasn’t too difficult for West Indies to knock off the remaining runs with a few lusty hitters waiting around. A couple of them – Marlon Samuels (28* from 25 balls with 3 fours) and Kieron Pollard (24* from 13 balls with 3 fours and a six) without any fuss finished the game by the 49th over with only Ishant Sharma bowling anything good in the final overs. Vinay Kumar and Amit Mishra who were very economical early on took a severe beating and so did Ashwin. Ishant promised a bit with his yorkers but couldn’t get any wickets. The Man of the Match went to Andre Russell for taking four w