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May 23, 2006 (Click to see the Scorecard)

Ramnaresh Sarwan with a brilliant hundred helped West Indies to go 2-1 up as Windies pulled off a 4-wicket win over India with just 1 ball to spare in the 3rd ODI at St.Kitts. The crowd at St.Kitts who were witnessing their 1st ever ODI at this ground couldn’t have asked for a better match as it had all the twists and turns and in the end the homeside clinched it making their supporters happy. Chasing a fighting total of 246, West Indies innings was well controlled by Sarwan and Gayle and in the later part by Sarwan and Chanderpaul. India had fought through Ajit Agarkar and Harbhajan Singh who bowled their heart out but they were let down by Pathan and Powar who couldn’t counter the attack from the West Indies batsmen.
 

Irfan Pathan had a poor start bowling way too many loose deliveries but Agarkar at the other end kept the pressure on the West Indies by giving absolutely nothing. Marlon Samuels had partnered Gayle at the top today and he scratched around for a long time only to get out cheaply. Morton who was dropped at No.3 had a failure too getting out in the 2nd ball he had faced. Sreesanth and Agarkar had chipped in with these two wickets to bring India back in the game. But after that it was all Sarwan and Gayle who spoilt the good work done by Agarkar and they consolidated the situation for the homeside. Ramesh Powar was tonked by both the batsmen for three sixes and Powar who was a main threat for West Indies was taken off the attack after bowling just 3 overs. This meant that Harbhajan Singh had to put up a lone fight in the middle and Dravid had to bring back Agarkar for his 2nd spell to provide the breakthrough. Agarkar responded to his captain’s call to dismiss Gayle through a beauty that left him late. Lara followed Gayle in the pavilion with Harbhajan getting a leading edge off Lara’s blade with his well disguised drifter. At 131 for 4, India had things well under control but Sarwan who was batting beautifully was always a thorn in the flesh for the Indians. Chanderpaul who came in after Lara’s fall had pulled his hamstring after completing a quick single but he was a totally different batsman after getting treated for his injury and after he had got Runako Morton running for him. The timing from both the batsmen was so sweet that boundaries kept rolling with very less effort. India could finally get a breakthrough in the form of Chanderpaul, but it was too late for them with just another 12 to win from 10 balls. It all boiled down to the final over for the 3rd time in this series and with 6 runs to get off the last over bowled by Sreesanth, it wasn’t a tough task for West Indies with Sarwan still at the crease and batting with his head down. It was a boundary through covers from Sarwan that gave victory for the homeside. Sarwan picked up the Man of the Match deservingly for his match winning 115, which did have two sixes of the bowling of Powar. It was Sarwan’s 3rd hundred of his ODI Career and it couldn’t have come at a better time than his 100th ODI!

In the morning session, India won the toss and elected to bat first on what was expected to be a dry pitch that would get slower and lower as the day progresses. India had lost Yuvraj Singh due to back spasms and that was a telling blow in the end as India missed him badly in all the three departments of the game. Bradshaw once again struck for the Windies and he trapped Dravid infront of the stumps with his nice inswinger to give an early breakthrough. Suresh Raina got promoted in the order and he along with Sehwag kept the run flow going with some superb drives on the up. Bradshaw struck once again for his side by bowling Raina through the gate as the left hander played all around a ball that was angled into him. Sehwag decided to go in for a long innings today and he was well set to make a big hundred but West Indies managed to get him out for 96 as Dwayne Bravo produced a magical delivery that swung back late into him and hit his boot on the full. After Sehwag’s fall, the runs weren’t coming for the Indians and the batsmen got bogged down by the spin of Samuels and Gayle. Kaif had got a decent partnership going with Dhoni before the latter had got out through a needless run out and India after that wicket down were still at a good position at 211 for 4 in just over 37 overs. After this the ‘Great Indian Collapse’ – a disease which is not that common to this Indian team had come into play and the Indians folded up their innings adding up just another 34 runs losing five more wickets in the next 77 balls that followed Dhoni’s dismissal. Not a single boundary was scored in the last 10 overs and a total that looked to have gone past 300 when Sehwag was batting was just 245 in the end! Gayle and Samuels had for the consecutive time in this series ran through their overs in quick time to give hardly anything for the Indian batsmen. One of the main reasons for the Indian collapse was the three crucial run outs that had come at decisive times of their innings. Kaif managed to get a fifty but this was no special knock from him as he failed to see India through till the 50 Overs and never tried to accelerate the innings and take some risks off the part timers.

Well India have been shocked in this match and West Indies are becoming a good fighting unit. Their batsmen are striking form at the right time and the Indian batsmen on the other hand are just struggling with the lack of pace in the wicket and they need to sort out lots of things before the 4th ODI which is on the 26th at Port of Spain.

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