t took Darren Sammy and Andre Russell 5.4 overs of mayhem to undo an afternoon of impressive work from India, and plot their first defeat in 12 home games. The pair came together after Ravindra Jadeja pulled off an outfield catch for the ages to remove Kieron Pollard, West Indies' most dangerous batsman on paper. Sammy and Russell proceeded to test that assumption with an unbroken partnership of delightful ferocity that yielded 79, propelling West Indies to a defendable 260. The bowlers, led by the irrepressible Ravi Rampaul, sliced through India's top order and set up West Indies' first win on tour.
Two things have been constant in this series - Rohit Sharma's pristine form, and the game-changing capabilities of the last wicket pair. Under lights, West Indies did enough to overcome both and finish on top. Rohit stoked a sublime 95 after India's top order funked, but ran himself out in a desperate effort to manipulate the strike to be the ninth man dismissed. Abhimanyu Mithun and Umesh Yadav then lashed out 28 for the final wicket in 19 balls to keep West Indies sweating, before Rampaul yorked Mithun to close the game.
Full report to follow ...
25 overs India 116 for 6 (Rohit 33*, Ashwin 7*, Rampaul 3-36) need 145 runs to beat West Indies 260 for 5 (Samuels 58, Sammy 41*, Russell 40*)
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West Indies bowlers' needed all of 21 overs to slice through India's top six, and leave their side poised for their first win of the tour. Rohit Sharma survived through the shambles, but despite his efforts India's unbeaten home run of 11 games looked set to end at Motera. More worryingly, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir bagged first-ball ducks to extend their runs of poor form, leaving India concerned ahead of the Australia tour. To make matters worse, Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina perished to umpiring errors that could have been reversed by the DRS - not in place for this series thanks to BCCI's opposition to the system.
India's batting blues continued the remarkable turnaround in fortunes from the 45th over of the West Indies innings, when Darren Sammy and Andre Russell came together to pummel 79 runs in no time. The hosts seemed hung-over from the onslaught when they began their chase. Sehwag is yet to make a significant score since the World Cup, but that didn't stop him from chasing a short and wide first delivery without moving his feet. Gambhir followed the very next ball, shouldering arms after misreading an inswinger that straightened to catch him plumb on the crease.
Parthiv Patel and Virat Kohli responded with a slew of boundaries as the new balls flew into, and off, the middle of the bat. Parthiv in particular was in prime touch in front of his home crowd, whipping, on-driving and steering Kemar Roach for fours. Kohli then carved Rampaul through the covers, before drilling him straight and pulling for fours as the chase looked up. It was about to go pear-shaped in a hurry, though.
The debutant offspinner Sunil Narine started off with a mix of offbreaks and knuckle-flicked top spinners, before striking with his stock ball. Kohli was well forward looking to work him with the turn to the leg side, and was struck in front of middle and leg, with the ball sliding further down. The umpire Sudhir Asnani was convinced, though, and Kohli left the pitch spewing a litany of invective in his wake, which should earn him a visit to the match referee's chambers. Marlon Samuels then produced a ripping offspinner that whizzed past Parthiv's forward prod to disturb his stumps.
The arrival of Raina brought about an automatic shortening of length, though he wasn't dismissed by the bouncer this time. A short ball from Rampaul was heading down the leg side as Raina looked to hop across and glance, and it went straight off his thigh pad into the keeper's gloves. Umpire Tony Hill raised the finger, and Raina was as agonised as Kohli, but far more graceful in accepting the decision. Ravindra Jadeja survived after being dismissed off a no-ball, and top-edged the free-hit for a boundary, but his stay ended when Rohit summoned him for an impossible single.
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