Manoj Tiwary made good on his chance with a chanceless 104 (126b, 10x4, 1x6), helping India to 267 for six after Gambhir elected to bat, and India survived Kieron Pollard's ten sixes to stop the West Indies 34 runs short in its tracks, in the 45th over, to close out the series 4-1. Pollard's 119 (110b, 4x4, 10x6) overshadowed Tiwary's knock, but couldn't take the West Indies to victory as no other batsman, except Andre Russell (53, 42b, 5x4, 3x6) hung around for support. Over to Kunal Diwan.
Contrasting maiden hundreds featured for either side in the fifth and final ODI between India and the West Indies at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium, and it was the sedateness of one that trumped the ruthlessness of the other. Having secured the series in the previous match at Indore, thanks to Virender Sehwag's murderous double hundred, India floated in Manoj Tiwary, Irfan Pathan and Ajinkya Rahane, while Gautam Gambhir stood in as skipper for the relieved Sehwag.
The 26-year-old Tiwary made good on his chance with a chanceless 104 (126b, 10x4, 1x6), helping India to 267 for six after Gambhir elected to bat, and India survived Kieron Pollard's ten sixes to stop the West Indies 34 runs short in its tracks, in the 45th over, to close out the series 4-1. Pollard's 119 (110b, 4x4, 10x6) overshadowed Tiwary's knock, but couldn't take the West Indies to victory as no other batsman, except Andre Russell (53, 42b, 5x4, 3x6) hung around for support.
Earlier, India was two down in the first three balls of its innings when Kemar Roach sent back comeback man Rahane (leg-before) and Parthiv Patel (played on) for first ball ducks. It took Tiwary two partnerships — 83 with Gambhir (31) and 117 in 18.5 overs with Virat Kohli (80) — to steady the ship. The Bengal batsman, playing his sixth ODI, lofted an inside-out six off ‘mystery' spinner Sunil Narine to reach his highest List A score (96), and a few overs later glanced the same bowler to the fence to reach his first ODI, and List A, hundred. The landmark consumed 125 balls, and Tiwary retired hurt immediately after with cramps.
Pathan's first-ball strike (Lendl Simmons) ensured that the West Indies suffered from the same starting trouble as India. Poor shot selection and a couple of debatable decisions later, the chase stalled on 78 for five in the 16th over. Pollard and Andre Russell, who was dropped by Patel on 35, added 89 in 79 balls for the sixth wicket and the West Indies needed 101 to win in 21.1 overs when Russell was run out by — surprise, surprise — a Gambhir throw from short third man, a wicket that portended the end of the chase.
Pollard, who targeted Ravindra Jadeja's left-arm spin for six of his ten sixes, kept getting the big ones to keep the Windies in the hunt, but regular wickets kept pegging the visitor back. He was rather lucky to get to his first ODI century, when Kohli dropped him on 99 at the long-off boundary, and the ball sped over the boundary to take him to three figures. Pollard was the last man out when he was caught attempting an 11th six.
Tiwary was named Man of the Match, while Rohit Sharma (305 runs at 76.25) was declared Man of the Series. Jadeja headed the bowling charts for India, accounting for nine wickets in five matches, at an economy rate of 4.36.
THE SCORESIndia: G. Gambhir lbw Martin 31, A. Rahane lbw Roach 0, P. Patel b Roach 0, M Tiwary (retd. hurt) 104, V. Kohli c Samuels b Martin 80, R. Sharma b Narine 21, S. Raina (not out) 16, I. Pathan (run out) 4; Extras (lb-6, w-3, nb-2): 11; Total (for six wkts in 50 overs) 267.
Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-1, 3-84, 4-241, 5-250, 6-267.
West Indies bowling: Roach 8-0-46-2, Russell 6-0-31-0, Narine 10-1-41-1, Sammy 5-0-28-0, Martin 10-0-47-2, Samuels 9-0-54-0, Pollard 2-0-14-0.
West Indies: L. Simmons lbw Pathan 0, K. Powell b Pathan 15, M. Samuels c Patel b Mithun 6, J. Mohammed lbw Mithun 2, D. Ramdin lbw Jadeja 14, K. Pollard c Rahane b Raina 119, A. Russell (run out) 53, D. Sammy c Rahane b Jadeja 3, S. Narine b Rahul 8, K. Roach b Jadeja 0, A. Martin (not out) 0; Extras (lb-2, w-11): 13; Total (all out in 44.1 overs) 233.
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-23, 3-29, 4-36, 5-78, 6-167, 7-181, 8-185, 9-213, 10-233.
India bowling: Pathan 9-1-42-2, Mithun 7-1-32-2, Raina 6.1-0-24-1, Jadeja 10-0-62-3, Rahul 10-0-45-1, Tiwary 1-0-15-0, Kohli 1-0-11-0.
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