Sachin Tendulkar gave glimpses of his vintage form with an imperious unbeatencentury as India thrashed the West Indies by 160 runs in the fourth one-dayer toclinch the series 3-1 today.
The Indians rode on Tendulkar's 100 not out to rattle up an imposing 341 forthree and then bundled out the Caribbeans for 181 with more than eight overs tospare in what turned out to be a lopsided contest at the IPCL Ground.
It was Tendulkar's 41st one-day hundred in his 378th appearance and was aidedby a pulled six and 10 fours in 76 balls.
The Mumbai batsman completed his hundred with a single off the last ball ofthe innings, as he moved from 89 to the three-figure landmark from the last fiveballs of the Indian innings.
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Skipper Rahul Dravid (78) and his predecessor Sourav Ganguly (68) also camegood to make it a sublime top order performance that was backed by MahendraSingh Dhoni with his trademark pyrotechnics, a 20-ball 40 not out that came asan icing on the cake.
The West Indian chase was never on as Chris Gayle (6) became Ajit Agarkar'svictim, for the third time in the series, in the third over of the innings.
Zaheer Khan accounted for the in-form Shivnarine Chanderpaul (14) beforeIrfan Pathan marked his return to the team with the wicket of Dwayne Smith (24).
Any chance of a masterly knock in his last ODI in India by Brian Lara was cutshort in an unfortunate manner when Pathan deflected a drive by Marlon Samuelsto the stumps at the non-striker's end on his follow-through with the Windiesskipper's bat raised above the ground. He made only 3.
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Another run out, this time with a direct hit at the striker's end bysubstitute Suresh Raina from backward point sent back Lendl Simmons for 4 andhalf the visitors' batting line up was back in the pavilion with just 83 on theboard.
Samuels (55 in 62 balls, 7x4, 1x6) and Denesh Ramdin (40 in 52 balls, 5x4)put on 65 runs for the sixth wicket before both holed out in the deep with theasking rate having climbed alarmingly. The game was as good as over.
For India, Agarkar impressed and Zaheer too did his bit and Pathan, returningafter a big break, looked a bit rusty.
Spinners Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble, who took two wickets, did their bitto keep the Windies under pressure.
The Indians made full use of Lara's largesse and plundered the West Indiesbowling to score runs at a fast clip, by rocketing off to 67 for one in tenovers and 127 for one in 20 at the end of the power plays.
Robin Uthappa once again provided a flying start with a quickfire 28 thatincluded successive sixes off Darren Powell besides three fours in 17 balls.
Ganguly and Dravid, coming to the crease in the seventh over, put on a standof 101 in 113 balls before the former was stumped when giving the charge toGayle.
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Dravid then had a rollicking partnership of 118 runs for the third wicketwith Tendulkar.
PTI
