 at Green Park, Kanpur. Marlon Samuels (71), Kieron Powell (70) and Darren Bravo (51 not out) were the half-centurions for the West Indies while Ravichandran Ashwin (2 for){kind=link}
West Indies have set India a target of 264 in the final One-Day International (ODI) at Green Park, Kanpur. Marlon Samuels (71), Kieron Powell (70) and Darren Bravo (51 not out) were the half-centurions for the West Indies while Ravichandran Ashwin (2 for 45) was the pick of the Indian bowlers.
The ball was swinging prodigiously in the morning session after India chose to bowl in the final encounter at Green Park, Kanpur. West Indies lost Johnson Charles in the fifth over trying to go for an expansive drive to Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s inswing, thus leaving a huge gap between bat and pad. The ball cannoned onto the leg-stump ending Charles’ innings of 11.
The first 8 overs produced four runs each. West Indies were cautious during the testing initial phase. After the early moisture on the wicket dried out opener Powell and Samuels went for their strokes. Powell, who is playing because of the absence of Chris Gayle, looked in sublime touch scoring runs with relative ease.
Samuels, on the other hand, looked scratchy but he stitched a useful alliance with Powell who brought up his second half-century of the series. Just when the 117-run partnership threatened to take the game away from India, Powell top-edged Ashwin’s delivery to short fine-leg and was dismissed against the run of play. He scored 70.
The onus of building the innings rested on Samuels. He fell for 71 to Ashwin as India controlled the game during the middle overs. Lendl Simmons, who scored an impressive half-century in Visakhapatnam, fell for 13 to Ravindra Jadeja.
The in-form Darren Bravo took his time to settle. The Indian bowlers were tightening the screws on the proceedings. Darren’s brother and West Indies skipper Dwayne Bravo tried to break free but fell for 4. He went for the expansive shot over covers off medium pacer Mohammed Shami but mistimed the shot which was held by the sweeper cover running in.
It was down to the two Darren’s (Bravo and Sammy) to do the finishing act. Sammy, the man-of-the-match from the previous game, took his time but then pressed on the accelerator. He opened his shoulders against Shami, in the 48th over of the innings, hitting him straight for a six. Mohit Sharma’s slower delivery was dealt with utter disdain as Sammy deposited it over deep mid-wicket for another massive six. He remained unbeaten on 37 off 29 balls.
If Sammy relied on his brute force to score his runs, Bravo embraces orthodoxy to score his runs. He brought his third half-century of the series and helped West Indies finish on a par total in the series-decider. He and Sammy added an unbeaten stand of 67 runs for the sixth wicket including 41 off the final three overs.
The question remains is 263 enough to challenge the strong Indian batting line-up?
Brief scores
West Indies 263 for 5 in 50 overs (Marlon Samuels 71, Kieron Powell 70, Darren Bravo 51*; Ravichandran Ashwin 2 for 45) vs India.