Windies Have The Last Laugh

Failing to rework the magic that has seen them pull off amazing victories inthe recent past, India crashed to a humiliating 135-run defeat in the seventh one-day international inVijayawada today to lose the series against West Indies 3-4.

Playing without Saurav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar, the Indians collapsed under the pressure of a mighty West Indiestotal of 315 for six to suffer their first tournament defeat this year.

The team, which had successfully chased 320-plus totals twice this year -- one just a couple of days back in this veryseries -- was shot out for a mere 180 in 36.5 overs in the first one-sided match of the series.

Man-of-the-match Marlon Samuels, who came up with a swashbuckling unbeaten knock of 108 off just 75 balls with tenfours and five sixes, and Jermaine Lawson, who rocked the Indian innings with four early wickets, were the stars of theday which saw the team setting the target winning for the first time in the series.

The victory helped West Indies avenge their 0-2 loss to India in the Test series earlier on this tour and also the 1-2defeat in the one-dayers at home earlier this year.

India's undoing was a combination of some outstanding bowling and fielding display by the West Indians coupled witha few injudicious shots played by the home batsmen.

The confidence of having chased such big totals with success meant that the Indians were not intimidated by thehuge score of West Indies and even when they lost first four wickets for just 67 runs there was an outside chance that theywould be able to pull it off.

At the crease were Mohammad Kaif and Yuvraj Singh, the heroes of India's stupendous victory in the final of theNatWest Series against England at Lord's in July.

But the quick dismissals of Kaif and Sanjay Bangar, who played two outstanding knocks in this series, washed away allhopes of India even offering a decent fight.

Yuvraj waged a meaningless battle before being the last man out for a 69-ball 68.

Lawson, who was rested for the one-day series before being recalled as a replacement for the injured Ryan Hinds,bowled a devastating opening spell and put his side on road to victory with the crucial wickets of Virender Sehwag, DineshMongia, V.V.S. Laxman and skipper Rahul Dravid.

Sehwag was caught by West Indian skipper Hooper in the slips after making 12 runs from 15 balls. Laxman and Mongiaput on 33 runs for the second wicket before both were out within three runs of each other. Laxman made 22 while Mongiascored 20.

Dravid, who lost his first match as skipper today, was out to a stunning catch by Ramnaresh Sarwan at short mid-wicket which left India panting at 67 for four in the 14thover. 

Kaif and Yuvraj then tried to build a partnership and added 32 runs in 5.3 overs before disaster struck. With theasking rate nearing seven runs an over, the pressure to hit boundaries was increasing and during one such attempt to findthe boundary, Kaif was clean bowled off an inside edge to a Corey Collymore delivery.

Kaif managed just ten runs and India's fifth wicket fell at 99 in the 19th over. Bangar fell just eight runs later, trapped leg before wicket by Collymore, leaving Yuvraj, who was batting well, without any genuine batsman as partner.

The Indian innings lingered on for 16 more overs after that but the fate of the home team had already been decided.

Earlier, Dravid won the toss and in keeping with the trend in this series invited West Indies to bat first.

West Indies lost their first two wickets -- those of three-time centurion in this series Chris Gayle and their most consistent batsman Shivnarince Chanderpaul -- with just 16 runs on board but still managed to post their second 300-plusscore of the series thanks to scintillating knocks from Samuels and Sarwan.

Sarwan made 83 runs off 101 balls with six fours and a six but once again stopped short of his first internationalhundred. He put on 116 runs for the third wicket with opener Wavell Hinds that put West Indies on road to a remarkablerecovery.

The Indian bowlers, who had a good beginning, lost ground in the middle overs as West Indies consolidated on theirgains. 

Both Sarwan and Hinds built up a fine partnership and slowly accelerated the scoring through judiciousstrokeplay. Left-arm spinner Murali Kartik and all-rounder Bangar, both of whom had impressed in the previous matches,took a pounding from the batsmen who brought up the second fifty of the West Indian innings in only 48 balls.

However, it was only after the arrival of Samuels that West Indies really launched the onslaught.

After part-time spinner Sehwag had dismissed Hinds in the 28th over for 58, Samuels and Sarwan put on 50 runs for the fourth wicket in ten overs taking the score to 182 in the 38th over.

Sarwan fell leg before wicket to an Agarkar delivery that cut in sharply, hitting the front pads of the batsman.

But far from being a setback, the fall of Sarwan saw the beginning of a blistering attack on Indian bowlers by Samuelsand new man Ricardo Powell who put on 109 runs for the fifth wicket in just 61 balls.

It rained fours and sixes in the jam-packed stadium as West Indies progressed from 195 for four in the 40th over to315 for six in the 50th.

Bangar was hit for 15 runs in the 44th over before Srinath gave away 21 in the 47th as West Indies added 120 runsin the last ten overs.

Powell was dismissed when he went for a run without knowing where the ball had gone and Dravid completed an easystumping. Samuels continued to torment the Indian bowlers and raised his century with a single off Sehwag in the last over.

After Hooper fell for a six-ball 13, Samuels struck fours on the last two balls to finish the West Indian innings in style.

PTI