TIL Desk Sports/ Skipper Jason Holder took five wickets as West Indies defeated India by 11 runs in the fourth One Day International cricket match at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium here on Sunday. Holder (5/27) led from the front towards the end and wrapped up India’s lower middle-order to snatch the victory. Alzarri Joseph took two wickets.
Opener Ajinkya Rahane (60) and wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (54) contributed handsomely to India’s cause but a very slow start and some poor batting performance by other batsmen helped West Indies to outplay the visitors.
Chasing 190, India got off to a bad start as apart from Rahane no other top order batsmen — Shikhar Dhawan (5), Virat Kohli (3) and Dinesh Karthik (2) — clicked. At one time India were struggling at 47/3 in 13 overs but Rahane and Dhoni forged a crucial 54 runs partnership in 18.1 overs to stabilise the Indian innings.
Just when things seemed good at the middle, Rahane was sent packing by spinner Devendra Bishoo in the 31st over. Soon Kedar Jhadhav (10) was also dismissed by Ashley Nurse. Middle-order batsman Hardik Pandya (20) then supported Dhoni at the other end and built at 43-run partnership before the former was sent back to the pavilion by Holder.