West Indies beat India by 16 runs

West Indies defeated India by 16 runs in the third cricket one-dayer to stay afloat in the five-match series on Monday.

Chasing West Indies' score of 260, India fell short by 16 runs despite some heroics from Rohit Sharma, Ashwin and Mithun. West Indies won the match and still the hosts lead the series by 2-1 in the five match ODI series.

Earlier, the West Indian captain Darren Sammy and all-rounder Andre Russell smashed the Indian bowlers in the last five overs to guide West Indies to a challenging score of 260 for five in the third one-dayer here on Monday.

Russell made an unbeaten 40 off only 18 balls with 4 fours and two sixes while Sammy, smashed an unbeaten 41 off 17 deliveries laced with five fours and two sixes.

The Indian bowlers were taken to cleaners in the final five overs, which yielded a whopping 73 runs as India now require to score their runs at an asking rate of 5.21 per over in order to clinch the series.

Their unbroken sixth-wicket stand produced 79 runs in only 34 balls and it lifted the visitors from 181 for five in the 45th over to well past the 250-run mark.

Earlier, Marlon Samuels found some form going his way to score a half-century but the West Indies put up yet another disappointing batting display to be struggling before the double act by Russell and Sammy.

After a slow start, Samuels, who too had flopped in the first two games, kick-started the innings with a well-made 58 although he took 93 balls in the process. He hit five fours and a six but Ravichandran Ashwin dismissed him to put the brakes on the West Indies scoring rate in the middle overs.

The lower-order, in which Denesh Ramdin (38) and Kieron Pollard (29) did their bit, struggled, to a large extent, against the slow bowlers.

After the fall of Ramdin and Pollard in the space of four balls, it was left to Russell and his captain skipper Sammy to accelerate the run-rate as they waded into the off-colour new ball bowlers Umesh Yadav and Abhimanyu Mithun and scored runs at a fast clip to provide their team with a very challenging score.

But for their brisk stand, the final tally would have looked much below par against the formidable Indian batting line-up.

The most impressive bowlers for India were medium pacer R Vinay Kumar who grabbed 2 for 39, while Ashwin, had to be content with one wicket although he came back strongly after being punished in the last match.

Mithun, who had a decent first spell saw his figures go for a toss after he gave away 23 runs in his seventh and last over while Umesh Yadav also gave away 75 runs in nine overs.

West Indies, going into the game in a must-win situation after being down 0-2 in the rubber, were off to a very slow start besides losing an early wicket, that of opener Lendl Simmons to be seven for one after 5 overs.

Simmons was dismissed in the second over with only 2 on board by Vinay Kumar who had the batsman edging low to ‘keeper Parthiv Patel.

On field umpires Tony Hill and Sudhir Asnani referred to third umpire Vineet Kulkarni adjudged the batsman out after viewing the replays. Hyatt and Marlon Samuels, dismissed in single figures in the first two games, got together and were stringing together an important partnership when the former needlessly touched a ball going down the leg-side from the unimpressive Abhimanyu Mithun to ‘keeper Patel and was caught.

Mithun, who had been preferred to Australia-bound Varun Aaron after the latter’s expensive stint in the second game at Vishakapatnam, bowled short and wide initially in his first spell of 6 overs.

He was punished a bit by Samuels who lofted the Bangalore bowler straight and over the covers for successive fours in the bowler’s first over to give the much-needed kick-start to the sluggish scoring rate.

The dismissal of Hyatt brought in left hander Darren Bravo together with Samuels who looked in good touch and the duo raised the 50 of the innings in the 17th over.

Bravo off-drove Mithun for a handsome four before Samuels turned his attention on Umesh Yadav, in his second spell, and struck the Vidarbha pacer for two fours and a six, a disdainful front-footed loft over the straight field.

Bravo, on 14 in a total of 80, should have been sent back when he was stranded short of his ground after responding to a call for a run by striker Samuels but bowler Ashwin, was guilty of throwing the ball wide from behind the stumps after gathering it.

The duo went on to raise the 50 of the partnership in 69 balls for the third-wicket when the visitors suffered a setback with Bravo retiring hurt on 26 in a team score of 97 to cut short the blooming 55-run stand.

Runs came in a trickle with off-spinner Ashwin, who had conceded 74 runs in 10 overs in the Vizag game, bowled well this time. Backing him up at the other end, in turns were left-arm slow bowler Ravindra Jadeja and part-time off-break bowler Suresh Raina.

Samuels reached his 50 in 78 balls with a single after the team’s hundred came in the 27th over.

The visitors took the batting Powerplay after 33 overs at 121 for 2 but to their dismay lost the well-set Samuels to the first over of this period from Ashwin. The batsman, having scored his 22nd half-century, tried to drive the bowler coming round the wicket, missed connecting and was bowled off-stump.

Samuels’ 58 contained 5 hits to the fence and one over it and came off 93 balls but his dismissal came at the wrong time as two new batsmen were to negotiate the batting Powerplay. With the spinners keeping it tight, only 19 runs came off it and at the end of the 38th over West Indies were in a none-too-happy 140 for 3.

Pollard and Ramdin, who made a plucky 38 in 52 balls with three fours, stitched a partnership of 55 runs in 61 balls that was snapped by Yadav who leaked two fours in his seventh over, the 44th of the innings, before having the latter caught brilliantly by a leaping Patel behind the stumps.

Another superb running catch by Jadeja, who sprinted 25 yards to his left at long off before completing it and then falling full stretch inside the boundary line, sent back Pollard four balls later when he lofted Vinay Kumar.

Then came the partnership between Sammy and Russell, who made mincemeat of Yadav and Mithun, to lift the Windies to a very competitive score.

Brief Scores:

West Indies: 260 for five in 50 overs (Marlon Samuels 58, Darren Sammy 41 not out, Andre Russell 40 not out; R Vinay Kumar 2/39).

India: 244 all out in 46.5 overs (Rohit Sharma 95, Parthiv Patel 39; Ravi Rampaul 4/57, Sunil Narine 2/34).