Chennai: Kieron Pollard smashed his maiden one-day international century, but could not prevent West Indies from losing by 34 runs in the fifth and final match in Chennai. A win mean that India won the five-match series 4-1.
It's not often Pollard will hit a century and finish on the losing side, but that's exactly what happened on Sunday, as his 10 sixes and 119 went in vain. He was last man out in his bid to clear the long-off boundary where Ajinkya Rahane took a smart catch off Suresh Raina's bowling. Ravindra Jadeja was the pick of the Indian bowlers as he finished with the figures of 3 for 62.
Needing 268 to win, the visitors got off to a worst possible starts as comeback man Irfan Pathan and Abhimanyu Mithun blew away the top four with only 36 runs on the board. Jadeja then removed Denesh Ramdin with the score at 78 for 5, but Pollard and allrounder Andre Russell (53) launched a furious counter-attack adding 89 in only 79 deliveries. A terrible mix-up saw Russell short of his crease to be run-out.
Jadeja struck again to dismiss captain Darren Sammy (3). While wickets kept falling, Pollard kept the scorecard ticking with some lusty blows as he reached his century. He finally departed for 119 as the curtains came down on the West Indies innings for the final time in this series.
Earlier, Manoj Tiwary's maiden ODI hundred saw India to a solid score of 267 for 6. On a slow track, West Indies were guilty of letting the game slip after a terrific start that saw Kemar Roach reduce India to 1 for 2, as Tiwary guided the hosts to a highly competitive total.
West Indies made the perfect start when Roach removed Rahane and Parthiv Patel for first-ball ducks in the first over of the match, but an 83-run partnership between Gautam Gambhir (31) and Tiwary put India back on track. Tiwary then set about taking the game away from the opposition as he ploughed through his second fifty in a 117-run partnership with Virat Kohli.
Although Tiwary was forced to limp off one single later as he gave in to the cramps which had dogged him in the latter part of his innings, Kohli went to 80 from 85 balls before finally picking out long-on. The final overs were not as profitable as India would have liked - they scored just 53 runs in the last 10.
The hosts rested Virender Sehwag, handing the captaincy to Gambhir. Ravichandran Ashwin fell out of the XI and Rahane and Irfan, returning to international cricket after a two-year absence. The Windies, meanwhile, rested Ravi Rampaul and Danza Hyatt. Anthony Martin replaced Rampaul, while Jason Mohammed was afforded a debut.
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