India Thrash West Indies in 4th ODI; Go 2-1 Up in Series

In spite of showing the tenacity to post large scores and chase them down against India, the West Indies slumped to a defeat of 224 runs in the 4th one-day international (ODI) that was played in Mumbai’s Brabourne Stadium today. It appeared that they had somewhat lost the edge over the Indian team that they had slowly built up over the first three matches, especially in the second and third ODIs where they first tied with India and then defeated them to level the series. India won the toss and batted first, setting the West Indies a target of 377/5, to which the visiting Caribbean team could only manage 153 runs in 36.2 overs.

Having received a lot of criticism for the way in which they handled themselves in the third ODI, the Indians chose to bat first after winning the toss, and from the very first ball, it appeared that things were going to play out differently in this match. Although Shikhar Dhawan was out on a score of 38 runs, captain Virat Kohli coming out to the crease to join Rohit Sharma seemed to hark back the first match of the series where both went on to set up a massive partnership that ultimately provided the platform for India to win the match. However, this was not to be as Kohli too found himself returning to the dressing room with just 16 runs to his name. This paved the way for the Ambati Rayudu – Rohit Sharma batting extravaganza that saw both men reach the century mark, Rayudu falling immediately after reaching his 100, and Sharma managing to stick around for a while longer to reach 162 runs off of 137 deliveries. In the end, India managed to post 377 runs on the board in their allotment of 50 overs.

The West Indies came out with their mission for victory clearly set out for them. However, it seemed that nerve played a large part in getting the first few batsmen out, as both Kieran Powell and wicket keeper Shai Hope, who was the hero of the last two matches, got themselves runout trying to take nonexistent singles, with the former scoring only four runs, and the latter not troubling the scorers. This called for some circumspect batting to calm things down before attempting to launch into the target set by India, but that was when Khaleel Ahmed burst onto the scene and pretty much drove the penultimate nail in the coffin by taking 3 wickets for 13 runs, in only 5 overs bowled. His effort was matched by Kuldeep Yadav who also took three wickets, giving away 42 runs in 8.2 overs bowled.

The fifth and final ODI of the series will be played in Greenfield International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram, and the match will begin at 1330 local time (0830 GMT).