India beat the West Indies by 224 runs in the 4th ODI on Monday and lead the 5-ODIs series 2-1.
After being defeated in the last match where the Windies levelled series 1-1, this match saw victory with Rohit Sharma scoring his 21st ODI century while Rayudu scored his third.
Going strong and how 💪
150 up for the HITMAN. pic.twitter.com/zJfl5zygB1
— BCCI (@BCCI) October 29, 2018
The win came as a befitting reply to the Caribbean side, who had, in the third match, stunned the hosts by 43 runs.
Young fast bowler Khaleel Ahmed spearheaded the Indian bowling attack in the match as he scalped three wickets to crumble the not-so-stable West Indies batting order.
Chasing a mammoth target of 378 runs, the Caribbean side lost an early wicket in the form of their opener Chandrapaul Hemraj who fell to an outgoing delivery from Indian pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Hemraj tried driving the ball over the covers but Ambati Rayudu timed his jump to perfection and gave his team the first breakthrough.
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West Indies were still recovering from the early jolt they had received in the form of Hemraj when a direct hit from spinner Kuldeep Yadav sent opposition’s in-form batsman Shai Hope back to Pavillion for a duck.
Without adding another run to their scorecard, the visiting side faced another unfortunate dismissal as Indian skipper Virat Kohli’s brilliant direct hit made Powell (4) walk back towards the dressing room.
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Middle order batsmen Marlon Samuels and Shimron Hetmyer, later, stitched a 25-run partnership for their side. Just when the visitors started reviving their situation, Hetmyer was trapped by Ahmed in front of the wickets. The Umpire raised his finger but the batsman went for a review, which eventually went in vain.
Continuing with his impressive bowling performance, Ahmed produced an absolute stunner to scatter the stumps of Rovman Powell (1) before deceiving Marlon Samuels (18) with a quick delivery.
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West Indies skipper Jason Holder emerged as the lone warrior in the team with a contribution of 54 runs.
After the pacer’s dominance, Indian spinners also joined the party by quickly trapping the lower batting order of West Indies.
While spinner Kuldeep Yadav took a total of three wickets, all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja scalped one wicket in the match.
Earlier, riding on the back of centurion knocks from opener Rohit Sharma (162) and middle-order batsman Ambati Rayudu (100), India had put up a formidable total of 377 runs.
Other contributors with the bat for India were Shikhar Dhawan (38) and MS Dhoni (23).
Rohit Sharma was adjudged Man of the Match for his spectacular innings of 162 runs in 137 balls.
India are now leading the series 2-1.
The Men in Blue will face West Indies for the final match on November 1.
(With ANI inputs)