The West Indian side had another chance at redemption, or at least at winning a game this series against India. And they blew it up in the third ODI at Antigua.<img src# “http://media5.picsearch.com/is?3ylmPmZZpQi6d53aXSzWmVY_t-axwy5tMR3k3Kd5h_k” width=”128” height=”93” alt “Another 86 not-out” /»
To be fair to the West Indies, it was not so much their bowling that failed to seal the deal for them but the batting of Rohit Sharma and Harbhajan Singh that won it for the Indians from a position very precarious. The pair got together with the Indians at 92 for six chasing 226 and added 88 runs in quick time to get the side close.
Then, Praveen Kumar slapped a couple of sixes and Sharma continued with his cool demeanour to push the Indians to a series-winning, three-wicket win that came with 22 balls to spare.
The West Indians had earlier looked equally bad, having lost seven wickets for 96 and one would have thought at that stage that an early finish beckoned. After Lendl Simmons and Ramnaresh Sarwan had added 65 for the second wicket to push the score to 65 for one in less than 15, the side collapsed again.
They lost six wickets for 31 runs and were left with too much to do to be able to win it from there. The spin bowling of Amit Mishra and Harbhajan Singh was barely read and the pair ended with four wickets between them off the 20 overs that they sent down and conceded only 52.
It was then that Andre Russell, selected in this game in place of Ravi Rampaul that the West Indian side mounted a fightback. The pair of Russell and Carlton Baugh saw the spinners off to begin with and then came hard at the fifth bowlers’ quota of ten overs which went for 65. Russell started off slow but took off well in the end to remain unbeaten on 92 that came off only 64 balls and would have had many IPL franchises stand up and take notice.
Later, when India batted, he picked up a wicket, catch and a run-out to complete an all-round performance and won the man of the match award as well. Unfortunately for him, Rohit Sharma’s unbeaten 86 sealed the deal for the Indian side.