Related Link: India Vs West Indies, 3rd ODI at Kanpur – Scorecard
The Green Park pitch as expected only became better in the afternoon session as India eased to a 5-wicket victory in the Third ODI. The Series has been won as well by India by a margin of 2-1. Shikhar Dhawan was the architect of the Indian win, leading the chase confidently by scoring his 5th ODI century in what is only the 28th match of his career.
The match was in India’s pocket after restricting West Indies to 263. There was an early loss though for Team India as Rohit Sharma got out for 4, edging a Ravi Rampaul delivery to first slip in the 5th over. There was a second wicket down four overs later as Virat Kohli was caught behind by the keeper in an indecisive leave off Rampaul.
Shikhar Dhawan scored his 5th ODI century
Apart from those two early wickets, West Indies did little to put India in any sort of trouble. With Shikhar Dhawan breezing through, the target was coming down quickly. An out of form Yuvraj Singh had all the time in the world to settle in and with Dhawan sealed the fate of the game with a 3rd wicket partnership of 129 runs.
Yuvraj Singh did work hard to score an elusive half century after quite sometime but that was all he would end up with. A turning off break from Sunil Narine had Yuvraj Singh edging to slip to end the 3rd wicket stand in the 31st over. Yuvraj by then had scored 55 from 74 balls with 7 fours. Meanwhile, Shikhar Dhawan, who stroked his way to a century in just 73 balls made sure that West Indies were completely out of the contest.
The 27-year-old Dhawan finished with 119 from 95 balls, smacking 20 fours before he was caught and bowled by Dwayne Bravo, pushing early at a slower one. After his exit, Suresh Raina on his 27th birthday and Skipper MS Dhoni got some runs to wrap up the game. Raina scored 34 from 43 balls and was caught behind off Dwayne Bravo, playing an expansive drive on the up. Dhoni remained unbeaten on 23 from as many balls. India because of losing a few wickets made a bit of heavy weather by getting to the target in 46.1 overs.
Shikhar Dhawan for his century got the Man of the Match award. The Player of the Series was given to Virat Kohli.
Video Report of India Vs West Indies – 3rd ODI at Kanpur
