Thunderous batting at the dying moments by Andre Russell and Darren Sammy with perfect bowling spell from Ravi Rampaul enabled West Indies to clinch their first victory of the tour against India by 16 runs.

The Windies thrashed 260 runs for the loss of five wickets in the allocated 50 overs. The blue shirts were bowled out at 244 runs in 46.5 overs besides great batting by Rohit Sharma who scored 95 runs.

Rampaul was declared ‘Player of the match’ as he grabbed four wickets at the crucial stages of the match.

Virender Sehwag put opposition in to bat and the decision paid off when first wicket was taken at just two runs when talented Lendl Simmons was gone at just one run. Marlon Samuels came in and joined with the other opener Danza Hyatt. They added 40 runs for the second wicket when Hyatt lost his wicket at his individual score of 20 runs.

Darren Bravo was the next batsman who associated at crease with Samuels and consolidated the innings. The later was more aggressive and dispatched 15 runs in the 19th over off Umesh Yadav which included one six and two fours. Bravo was retired hurt on 26 runs when the partnership was cruising well and took the score to 97 runs.

The wicket keeper batsman Denesh Ramdin replaced Bravo but they could not steady innings as required. Samuels was the next batsman who went back to the pavilion after scoring 58 runs with the addition of 25 runs in the total. The wickets kept on falling at the regular intervals and the visitors had lost five wickets at 181 runs in 44.2 overs.

Russell and Sammy were in dangerous mood and butchered the rival bowling and smashed 79 runs in 5.4 overs with marvellous hitting. Russel scored unbeaten 40 off 18 balls with two sixes and 4 fours as Sammy punched 41 runs off 17 runs which included two sixes and 5 fours. The Caribbeans achieved 260 runs after the completion of 50 overs and set a tough target for the home side.

Vinay Kumar was the top wicket taker with two, Yadav, Abhimanyu Mithun and Ravichandran Ashwin claimed one wicket each.

India had a horrible start and lost two quick wickets of Sehwag and Gautam Ghambir at eight runs and they were unable to open their accounts. Both of them became victims of the accurate bowling from Rampaul. Parthiv Patel and Virat Kohli tried to reunite the innings but after the addition of 35 runs Kohli was declared leg before wicket.

Sharma was holding one end when the wickets kept on falling at the other end. The blue shirts were reeling at 105 after losing six wickets when Ashwin came in the centre and gave a supporting hand to Sharma.

Ashwin and Sharma were dropped by Sammy in a short span of time when they were at 2 and 33 runs respectively. The duo got full use of the opportunities and their march was commenced towards victory. India suffered another blow when Ashwin was gone after scoring 31 runs not before contributing valuable 91 runs for the seventh wicket.

Sharma took charge of the situation with able support from Mithun but was unluckily run out at 95 runs off 100 balls with one six and 10 fours. Mithun and Yadav gave some ray of hope for India and it looked like at one stage that they could win the match.

Rampaul struck once again at a critical stage by claiming the wicket of Mithun and got his side through to the victory by a narrow margin of 16 runs.

Ravi Rampaul was the star performer for the Windies with four wickets, Sunil Naraine claimed two, Kemar Roach and Samuels shared one wicket each.

West Indies are back in to the contest in the five ODIs as India still leads the series by 2-1.

Venue:  Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera, Ahmedabad

Date: 05 December 2011