In yet another thrilling encounter, West Indies thrashed India by four wickets in the third ODI on Wednesday, taking 2-1 lead in the five-match series. Chasing a challenging victory target of of 247 runs, the hosts romped home with just one ball to spare.
The first two matches too were decided in the very last over, the favourites stumbling to victory in the first and then losing their way in the second.
And now, the underdogs have taken a clear lead putting huge pressure on the tourists. If India want to clinch the series they will have to win both the remaining matches to be played on May 26 and 28 at Trinidad. The hero of today's victory was clearly Ramnaresh Sarwan who remained unbeaten at 115 (119 balls).
However, the only silver lining for India in today's encounter was Virender Sehwag's return to form.
Windies run chase
Chasing a challenging target of 247 runs, West Indies openers Gayle and Samuels began on a cautious but confident manner, with former being more aggressive. They gave no room to the Indian pacers Irfan Pathan and Ajit Agarkar, frustrating the Indian attack.
At the end of the eighth over Kerala pacer Sreesanth was brought into the attack and he did the job for India. Samuels was trapped leg-before in his very first over and Windies lost their first wicket for 30.
In the next over, Mortan departed for no score. West Indies thus lost two wickets in quick succession. While Samuels was trapped leg before by Sreesanth for 11 runs in the ninth over, Mortan departed in the similar fashion off Ajit Agarkar in the next over for a duck.
But after the initial hiccups, Sarwan and Gayle steadied the innings. Sarwan batted beautifully to reach his half ton but immediately after that Agarkar dismissed Gayle (40) to bring an end to the partnership that was looking quite threatening.
{{/usCountry}}But after the initial hiccups, Sarwan and Gayle steadied the innings. Sarwan batted beautifully to reach his half ton but immediately after that Agarkar dismissed Gayle (40) to bring an end to the partnership that was looking quite threatening.
{{/usCountry}}Sarwan displayed fine strokeplay and his fifty included 6 fours and two sixes. He was joined by skipper Brain Lara who did not remain at the crease for long. Lara edged a beauty of a delivery by Harbhajan to Dravid at first slip. The two quick dismissals in a short intervals brought the visitors back into the game.
However, Sarwan continued to defy the Indian bowling and he was well supported by Chanderpaul at the other end. Chanderpaul fell to Irfan Pathan in the 49th over, but not before doing his job. He scored 58 off 68 balls as Windies were 237 for five in 48.2 overs. West Indies finally achieved the target with just one ball to spare.
Indian middle order collapse
Earlier, when it looked like India were going for a 300 plus total, wickets started falling like a pack of cards. From 210/3 in 37 overs, India have slumped to 246/9 in the stipulated fifty overs.
All the good work done by Virender Sehwag (96) and Kaif (63) came to nothing as the Indian middle and lower order performed miserably.
After electing to bat, India had a poor start losing skipper Rahul Dravid in the very first over. The last ball of Bradshaw's first over was beauty of a good length delivery, swinging in at the right moment to beat the Indian 'Wall' and he was trapped plum in front for naught.
Bradshaw struck again in his 6th over to uproot Raina's wicket. Raina tried to work the ball to the on side but he missed and his stumps were shattered. It was a big blow as Raina had batted handsomely for his 26. At this point India were two down for 62 runs.
However, Virender Sehwag brought the momentum back when the chips were down. The Nawab of Najafgarh batted brilliantly but missed his century by just four runs.
However, Mohammed Kaif who had joined Sehwag after Raina's departure, kept the momentum going hitting his 16th half ton.
Sehwag made a quickfire 96 off 83 balls, which included 9 fours and 3 sixes, before he was trapped leg before by West Indies paceman Bravo. The Delhi marauder tried to drive a late swinging delivery but was stuck full on the boot.
Save an aberration in Abu Dhabi, the gifted Delhi batsman had been failing quite consistently in the shorter version of the game. In the first two matches in Jamaica, Sehwag scored 22 and 12 leaving the team in lurch early in the game.
After Sehwag's departure, Kaif and MS Dhoni kept the momentum going. But in the 38th over Dhoni was run out for 15 as India were four down for 211.
That was the beginning of the misery of the Indian innings, as Kaif departed in the similar fashion two overs later when India were 216. In the next ten overs, India lost the wickets of Irfan Pathan (1), Venugopal Rao (12), Ramesh Powar (1) and Ajit Agarkar (8) by adding just 30 runs. What a fightback for the Caribbeans!
India third time lucky with toss
Though the Indian skipper was third time lucky to win the toss, he failed to give India a good start. In the earlier two occasions, he had opted to field first and the result was fifty-fifty, one loss and one win. This time he seems to have changed the strategy.
India have made couple of changes in the team that played the second match. Yuvraj Singh, who is nursing a back-spasm, has been replaced by Venugopal Rao, and pacer Munaf Patel has been replaced by Kerala's Sreesanth.
West Indies, on the other hand, have decided to stick to the winning combination.