Windies roll over Indians

After trouncing Zimbabwe 5-0, the result was a fantastic fillip for the team, following their abysmal showings on recent tours of Sri Lanka, Australia and New Zealand.

The 37-year-old West Indies captain Brian Lara, who was controversially reappointed for his third stint at the helm, got a fitting farewell from the estimated crowd of 20,000 when he came out to bat, and took off his helmet and saluted the applause from his appreciative fans when he returned to the pavilion.

He had earlier announced that the weekend’s matches could well be his final appearance at the Queen’s Park Oval.

But it was the all-round display of the team, so crucial throughout the series, which decided the outcome once as for all, as India lost their last six wickets for 66 runs to be bowled out for 236, in pursuit of of 255 to win.

With the series already decided, the West Indies included Sewnarine Chattergoon, Jerome Taylor, Dave Mohammed and Denesh Ramdin for Marlon Samuels, Fidel Edwards, Ian Bradshaw and Carlton Baugh respectively.

India replaced Irfan Pathan and Ramesh Power with Munaf Patel and Robin Uthappa.

Known for his risky captaincy decisions, Lara entrusted Wavell Hinds with the new ball, and the Jamaican medium pacer got Uthappa to edge loosely at an outswinger to wicket-keeper Ramdin for a third-ball duck.

Lara was forced to stick with Hinds as pacer Corey Collymore limped off two balls later chasing a straight drive by the swashbuckling Mahendra Singh Dhoni, but the move once again paid dividends as Dhoni dragged a ball back onto his stumps for 14.

Indian captain Rahul Dravid hesitated on Virender Sehwag’s hit to midwicket off Mohammed, and the left-arm spinner gathered the ball and his bulls-eye throw to the keeper’s end found Dravid short of his ground.

Promising innings by the in-form Yuvraj Singh and Mohammed Kaif ended at crucial moments, with Yuvraj bowled by Mohammed as he was beaten in flight while Kaif was beaten by Taylor’s slower ball and spooned a catch to cover.

Suresh Raina was never assured against Taylor and nicked a wide ball to Ramdin, leaving Sehwag with the tail.

Sehwag, who tormented the West Indies bowlers with a hard-hitting but valuable 95, caved under pressure as he slashed a wide ball from Taylor to the covers, the second time in this series he fell in the 90s.

Ajit Agarkar and Harbhajan Singh hit some lusty blows in an eighth-wicket stand of 41 before Mohammed quickly disposed of Harbhajan and Patel to catches on the boundary, while Agarkar followed suit, finding Dwayne Smith at midwicket off Chris Gayle with the target reduced to 20 runs off 12 balls.

Bravo’s 42-ball 62, which featured only four boundaries but 24 singles and 11 twos, bettered his previous best of 61 not out which he scored on Friday. And the innings was crucial as the West Indies posted 82 runs in their last 10 overs to reach 255 for six after they were sent in to bat.

Ramnaresh Sarwan also continued his consistent run during this home series with 52 while the left-handed trio of Gayle, Lara and Hinds registered 51, 36 and 32 respectively.

Lara’s stay, off 63 balls, only featured a four and a towering straight six off Harbhajan, but he could not manage to accelerate the pedestrian scoring rate due to the nagging accuracy of Harbhajan, fellow off-spinner Sehwag and pacer Shanthakumaran Sreesanth.

In his 260th one-dayer, the triple batting record-holder was adjudged run out by TV umpire Billy Doctrove as he failed to beat Agarkar’s throw to keeper Dhoni, losing his balance attempting a second run to deep square leg.

Hinds joined Bravo as they combined for 78 runs off 10.2 overs in a sixth-wicket stand, mixing the occasional boundary with deft placement and expert running between the wickets.

Bravo, who notched only his second fifty at this level, was given a reprieve on 22 when he flicked Agarkar to a diving Uthappa at the square leg fence, but the catch was floored. Hinds and Smith were unable to stay with Bravo until the end, both losing their wickets attempting big shots in the closing stages.

Earlier in the innings, Chattergoon was bowled offering no shot, first-ball, to Patel while Gayle who was missed, second-ball, behind the stumps off the pacy Sreesanth. Gayle will make India pay for that lapse with his customary feast of boundaries, square on both sides of the wicket, and brought up his 25th ODI half-century with successive swept-fours, authentic and reverse, off Sehwag.

But Sehwag would get even the following ball, as the big left-hander lost his off-stump as he missed his third sweep shot.

Sarwan, who was bowled by Sreesanth trying an almighty swing, was troubled by a blow to his right wrist from Sehwag while completing a run to midwicket, an injury which prevented him from taking the field in India’s innings.