Sachin Tendulkar stroked his way to an unbeaten ton as India scored 341 for three in the fourth and final cricket ODI against the West Indies.
VADODARA: Sachin Tendulkar stroked his way to an unbeaten ton as India rode on some class batting performance from the top order to amass 341 for three in the fourth and final cricket one-day international against the West Indies on Wednesday.
Tendulkar showed his wonted touch to score an imperious 100 not out, his 41st hundred in his 378th tie with the help of a pulled six on bent knees and 10 fours in 76 balls at the IPCL Grounds.
The Mumbai batsman completed his hundred with a single off the last ball of the innings, as he moved from 89 to the three-figure landmark from the last five balls of the Indian innings.
Skipper Rahul Dravid (78) and his predecessor Sourav Ganguly (68) also joined in the run-feast.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni came up with his trademark pyrotechnics, a 20-ball assault in making an unbeaten 40 to put the icing on the cake.
Ganguly, rested for the previous tie, made his second half century in the series a knock of 68 embellished with his silken smooth off side play and some top edged hooks with 8 fours and a six in 82 balls.
Dravid made a typical sheet-anchor 78 that contained seven fours in 109 balls.
Dhoni slammed three sixes and a four in his cameo knock. After being dropped in the deep when on 8 by Dwayne Smith, the Jharkhand player added 75 runs for the unbroken fourth-wicket stand with Tendulkar who was dropped twice after he crossed the 80s.
The top-notch stuff dished out by the Big Three of Indian batting on a benign wicket after West Indies skipper Brian Lara opted to field ensured that the hosts bettered the previous highest total at this ground, of 291 by their rivals in their only previous encounter four seasons ago.
The visitors were left a stiff asking rate of 6.84 by India to win the clash and square the series in which the hosts are leading 2-1.
Ganguly and Dravid, coming to the crease in the seventh over, put on a stand of 101 in 113 balls before the former was stumped when giving the charge to Chris Gayle.
Dravid, needing 105 runs to become the fifth batsman in the world to cross the 10,000 run landmark in ODIs, then steadied the ship with a rollicking partnership of 118 runs for the third wicket with Tendulkar.
It was also the India captain's 76th ODI fifty and he got out in the 44th over holing out to Lendl Simmons in the deep off Marlon Samuels.
The Indians made full use of Lara's largesse and plundered the West Indies bowling to score runs at a fast clip, by rocketing off to 67 for one in ten overs 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 that included successive sixes off Darren Powell besides three fours in 17 balls.
Uthappa, who caught the eye at Chennai with his blistering knock of 70 in 41 balls, looked good for an encore when he edged Powell Gayle at slip.
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