India wins by 5 wickets to clinch the series

Shikhar Dhawan scored a brilliant century to steer India to a back-to-back series wins on the home soil. Having won the test series 2-0, India backed it up with some clinical performances to hand West Indies further humiliation beating them 2-1 in the ODIs.

With the series level at 1-1 the Caribbeans were expected to come hard at the Indians in the final match of the series. But it was not to be. After they were sent to bat by Mahendra Singh Dhoni having won the toss, the West Indian batsmen had a torrid time in the middle with the Indian bowlers hitting the right line and length regularly on a damp pitch that had a lot to offer early in the morning. They scored at a very low rate but they kept wickets in hand much to the disappointment of the Indian bowlers as they did not get their reward for some good bowling. However when it seemed that the WI batsmen were preparing to cut loose, Indian spinners picked up quick wickets to keep the proceedings under

their control. But it was yet another late surge from Darren Sammy (37*) that saw the visitors putting up a challenging total of 263-5. While Darren Bravo was the top scorer for WI with an unbeaten 51, Ashwin was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 10-0-45-2. Mohammad Shami, Ravindra Jadeja and Bhuvaneshwar Kumar shared one wicket each.

As India came on to bat being set a target of 264, Shikhar Dhawan rose to the occasion showing some positive intent with the bat right from the first ball. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli had a bad day but it was well made by Shikhar Dhawan as he hit 20 boundaries en route to his 119 off just 95 balls. Yuvraj Singh also showed signs of good form as he made a patient 55. In the end Mahendra Singh Dhoni remained unbeaten on 23 as he took India over the finishing line.

Such a comprehensive win will do immense good to the morals of the whole team, which might have taken a dip after a shock defeat against Windies in the second ODI. And with the tough South Africa-series coming within few days, it will provide them with a lot of confidence. The coming back to the form of Yuvraj and Raina are also great news for the Indian team before such a big tour.

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About Argha Ghosh

An ardent follower of sports and die-hard Manchester United fan, Argha's ultimate dream is to watch a Manchester derby from the Stretford End at the Old Trafford.