Rohit Sharma shines as India secures ODI series win

A superb unbeaten 86 from Rohit Sharma led India to a three-wicket victory over the West Indies on Saturday to secure the five-match ODI series for the tourists who now have an unassailable 3-0 lead.

Sharma led India's recovery from 92 for six as they chased down 226 at the Sir Vivian Richards stadium.\

An 88-run partnership with Harbhajan Singh (41) put India back in contention and then Praveen Kumar (25 not out) saw the tourists through to what was, in the end, a comfortable victory with 22 balls to spare.

It was a day for lower-order contributions with West Indies earlier managing to set a decent target thanks to an outstanding 92 not out from 84 balls by Jamaican Andre Russell.

Russell's score is the highest made by a number nine batsman in ODIs and included a 78-run partnership with wicketkeeper Carlton Baugh, Jr, as the Caribbean side recovered from 85-6.

The big hitting innings included eight fours and five sixes as the success-starved home crowd were finally treated to some entertainment.

Once again the West Indies struggled against spin with leg-spinner Amit Mishra taking 3-28 from his 10 allotted overs. Opener Lendl Simmons was again the pick of the West Indies batsmen with 45 before Mishra had him caught by Virat Kohli at slip, but the middle order failed yet again.

India's innings had a similar structure with opener Parthiv Patel hitting 46 but no one else making a major contribution until Sharma's big knock turned the game.

At one stage, the West Indies were 65 for one in 14.4 overs. But in the next 14.5 overs, the home team lost as many as six wickets for the addition of only 31 runs, to totter at 96 for seven.

Russell and Baugh (36, 73 balls) then batted sensibly, adding 78 runs for the eighth wicket in 15.5 overs as the Indian bowlers failed to polish off the tail. Russell repeatedly carted the spinners all over the park, and plundered 22 runs from the penultimate over bowled by skipper Suresh Raina.

Home team skipper Darren Sammy, after his team's defeat in the first two matches, urged the batsmen to up the ante, but all they dished out was yet another miserable show. Right from the start they never were in control of the situation though there was a 65-run second-wicket partnership between Simmons (45, 68 balls, 4x4, 1x6) and Ramnaresh Sarwan (28, 38 balls, 2x4, 1x6). The duo, however, couldn't dominate the bowling.

Once Sarwan was run out as he lost his bat and failed to make his ground, Mishra took over and rocked the middle order.

Scoreboard
West Indies: L Simmons  c Kohli b Mishra 45; K Edwards c P Patel b M Patel 0; R Sarwan run out 28; M Samuels st P Patel b Mishra 1;  D Hyatt  b Mishra 1;  K Pollard c P Patel b Harbhajan Singh 6; C Baugh c Dhawan b M Patel 36; D Sammy c P Patel b M Patel 3; A Russell not out 92; K Roach not out 7; Extras (lb 2 w 4) 6; Total (for eight wickets; 50 overs) 225
Did not bat: D Bishoo
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-65, 3-70, 4-74, 5-77, 6-85, 7-96, 8-174
Bowling: P Kumar 10-1-46-0, M Patel 10-1-60-3 (2w), A Mishra 10-2-28-3, Harbhajan Singh 10-2-24-1 (2w), Y Pathan 5-0-27-0, V Kohli 1-0-7-0, S Raina 4-0-31-0
India: P Patel c Russell b Bishoo 46; S Dhawan c Samuels b Sammy 4; V Kohli lbw b Sammy 0; S Badrinath run out 11; R Sharma not out 86; S Raina c Simmons b Pollard 3; Y Pathan c Simmons b Bishoo 1; Harbhajan Singh c Baugh b Russell 41; P Kumar not out 25; Extras (lb 1 w 5 nb 5) 11; Total (for seven wickets; 46.2 overs) 228
Did not bat: M Patel, A Mishra
Fall of wickets: 1-26, 2-26, 3-60, 4-79, 5-88, 6-92, 7-180
Bowling: K Roach 8.2-0-46-0 (3nb, 2w), A Russell 9-0-59-1 (1nb, 1w), D Sammy 10-2-49-2 (1w), D Bishoo 10-0-41-2 (1nb), K Pollard 9-0-32-1 (1w)
Result: India won by three wickets to take a winning 3-0 lead in the five-match series