Kanpur: India clinched the ODI series against West Indies 2-1 with a comfortable five-wicket victory in the third and final match here on Wednesday, riding on Shikhar Dhawan’s sparkling century.
The Indians first restricted West Indies to 263 for five and then overhauled the target with 23 balls to spare to lift yet another ODI trophy at home.
Dhawan stole the limelight with an attacking 119 that came off 95 balls, his fifth ODI hundred, while Yuvraj Singh notched up a 74-ball 55 to seal the issue for the home side.
It was a welcome return to form for Yuvraj, who cautiously put together 129 runs for the third wicket with Dhawan to set the platform for the easy win.
Earlier, the trio of Kieran Powell, Marlon Samuels and Darren Bravo struck half-centuries to propel West Indies to a challenging total.
Powell (70) carried on his good form from the last match and registered his second fifty of the series.
Together with Samuels (71), he shared a 117-run second-wicket partnership to lay the foundation for West Indies after the visitors were put into bat by India captain MS Dhoni.
Towards the end, Darren Bravo (51 not out) and Darren Sammy (37 not out) played aggressively to take West Indies past the 260-run mark.
Comfortably placed at 137 for one at one stage, West Indies looked set for a big score but India staged a comeback with quick wickets to restrict West Indies to the manageable score.
For the hosts, off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was the pick of the bowlers with figures of two for 45 from his quota of 10 overs.
India’s chase did not start on a very good note even though Dhawan made his intentions clear in just the second over of the innings when he clobbered Jason Holder thrice to the fence.
The hosts lost Rohit Sharma in the fifth over with just 20 runs on the board. Rohit gave a straight-forward catch to Dwayne Bravo at the first slip while trying to push at an away going delivery from Ravi Rampaul.
Virat Kohli looked in great touch during his brief 19-run stay but he too was undone by Rampaul’s probing length outside the off stump.
While trying to leave a delivery at the last moment, the ball just brushed Kohli’s bat on to the safe hands of wicket-keeper Johnson Charles.
“I am really thankful to God that he has given me such a beautiful year. I am really happy that I have been scoring lots of centuries. It’s a good habit and I want to continue this habit by winning lots of matches for my team,” an elated Dhawan said at the post-match press conference
For Dhawan, the most satisfying aspect of his century is that it has helped the team win the match comfortably.
“I am very happy that I made a century and the team won. I have been getting starts in the last 2-3 matches but was not being able to convert them into big scores. It couldn’t have been better that I scored a century in the series deciding match,” Dhawan said.
India next assignment is the tough tour to South Africa starting next week and Dhawan is confident of his good showing in the Rainbow nation.
“It’s always good to end a home series on a high note. This century is going to give me lot of confidence when I travel to South Africa.”
Visiting skipper Dwayne Bravo felt that his team missed a good opportunity.
“At times we were inconsistent with the ball and we paid for it. We are disappointed because this was our best opportunity to win a series in India. We just have to regroup and keep believing,” Bravo said. (PTI)
