The fourth ODI at Dharamsala Friday started and ended with turbulence for the West Indies. After they decided to pull out of the tour with one ODI, one T20I and three Tests still to go, the Caribbean team, chasing India's 330 for 6, fuelled by Virat Kohli's 20thton, could only manage 271 all out in 48.1 overs to concede the series 2-1.
When the entire Caribbean team accompanied captain Dwayne Bravo to the toss in a show of solidarity over a pay dispute with the West Indies Cricket Board, there was a sense that it is the beginning of some sort of upheaval. It turned out to be that way as reports coming during the course of the Indian innings confirmed that the game was the last of this tour on account of both players and the WICB failing to reach a consensus. As a result of the shocking development, Kohli, Suresh Raina and Ajinkya Rahane's excellent batting efforts were put on the back burner in front of a packed stadium.
improbable. The conjecture was spot on as the tourists gave up very early in the chase and
weren't it for Marlon Samuels' second ton (112 off 106 balls, 9x4s,6x6s) in the series, the
margin of defeat could have been much bigger. Samuels didn't seem to be affected by the
situation around him and delayed the inevitable for a considerable period. Andre Russell
chanced his arm towards the end hitting six fours and three sixes during his 23-ball 46 but
that was that. Among Indian bowlers, Akshar Patel, who replaced Amit Mishra for this
match, impressed a lot returning 2 for 26. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed
Shami and Ravindra Jadeja also took two wickets apiece.
After being put in to bat on a wicket partial to batsmen, openers
Shikhar Dhawan and Rahane hit the ground running. Dhawan, in particular, looked in good
touch putting on display plenty of pulls and cuts. However, attempting one pull too many,
he found Darren Bravo at deep midwicket off a slightly quicker delivery from Russell for a
run-a-ball 35.
Kohli started from where he had left off at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium,dropping anchor in the middle straight away. The run-scoring responsibility fell to Rahane
who did a good job of it. However, he was lucky to have been dropped by Jerome Taylor at
fine-leg when he was on 34. He went on to make 34 more - his seventh fifty - and his
participation in the 70 and 72-run stands with Dhawan and Kohli set the tone for a big
score. His lbw dismissal by Sulieman Benn wasn't the right decision as the ball pitched
outside off and was missing the stumps as shown by replays. more >>
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