Monday 13th June, 2011 13 Sharma trumps Russell as India seal ODI series T. JOHN’S, Antigua (AP) — Raina swung wildly at Kieron (1) missed a ’s unbeaten 86 Pollard and skied to point while ripping leg break and was trumped an earlier plucked a magnif- off Mishra, who quickly blitz and steered India to a series- icent catch off Bishoo to remove accounted for Danza Hyatt (1) and clinching victory over West Pathan. Simmons (45). Indies by three in the But Sharma and Harbhajan Hyatt, on debut, essayed an third one-day internation- gradually wrestled the initiative ambitious drive and was bowled al at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium from the hosts with their confi- through the gate by a googly, on Saturday. dent association. while Simmons prodded a leg Russell’s unbeaten 92 off 64 Harbhajan was just beginning break to slip. balls, decorated with eight fours to motor when he fell with 46 Simmons cracked four fours and five sixes, lifted West Indies runs still required. The right-han- and a six. from the early crisis of 96-7 to a der hit a four and a six off 64 Harbhajan soon claimed his competitive 225-8 off 50 overs. balls before he skied a catch off IPL teammate India’s chase also stuttered before Sharma’s assured knock charted a victory course at 228-7 with 22 balls to spare. Victory gave the World Cup champion an unbeatable 3-0 lead in the five-match series. Sharma received sound sup- port from , who contributed 41, and , 25 . The visitors dipped to 92-6 before Sharma and Harbhajan added a record seventh- stand of 88 to change the course of the match. admit- ted the top order’s approach may have been a bit careless. “The selection of the shots was a bit wrong at that time. I played a bad shot,” he said. Andre Russell smashed the ball to all parts of the ground in his 64- “But credit goes to Rohit ball 92 but it was India who prevailed in the end. (Ap Photo) Sharma and Harbhajan. They had a good partnership in between and Praveen Kumar, he Russell. , caught behind played a couple of good shots, But Sharma continued to be and the hosts were 85-6. too.” the rock, arriving at his second It got worse soon afterwards Raina also credited new coach half of the series off 57 when Munaf returned to induce Duncan Fletcher and his staff balls. Sammy (3) to edge behind. with preparing India well for the Praveen played with uninhib- But Russell and Carlton series. ited freedom to accelerate the vic- Baugh turned the tide with a “We just came here after the tory. level-headed partnership that IPL and we had quality meetings The seamer lashed two sixes gradually rebuilt before the coun- and quality practice,” he said. and one four off 15 balls before terattack. “Everyone has done well in this Sharma hit the winning bound- Russell’s five sixes were all tournament. I am very happy ary to seal the five-match series struck with ferocity and cleared with the boys.” for his side. the outfield by some distance. His Sharma lashed five fours and Earlier, India seized control maiden half century came off 50 two sixes off 91 deliveries. after winning the toss and insert- balls. Legspinner ing West Indies. Baugh, who notched 36 off 73 (2-41) and captain Darren Sammy struck in the sec- balls, departed in the 46th over, (2-49) led the hosts’ . ond over without a on the miscuing Munaf to cover. Sammy had struck twice in board when ’ lead- But Russell dominated the last two balls to remove Shikhar en-footed drive produced an edge three overs as West Indies added Dhawan (4) and (0) as to wicketkeeper Patel. 47 runs. India’s pursuit stalled on 29-2. Simmons and Ramnaresh He added 51 unbroken off 28 Dhawan miscued to cover Sarwan rebuilt in a sensible balls with , who while Kohli was an unlucky lbw stand of 65 off 81 balls before a scored seven not out off 10 balls. victim as umpire Norman run out changed the course of the The fourth game is on the Malcolm erred. . same ground on Monday. Subramaniam Badrinath Sarwan, after striking made things worse for his side two fours and a six in 28 off Scoreboard when he was run out for 11 at 60- 38 deliveries, was late in Lendl Simmons c Kohli b Mishra 45 3. setting off and his bat Kirk Edwards c PPatel b MPatel 0 tried to rebuild plugged into the turf as R. Sarwan run out (Raina/PPatel) 28 in compiling 46 off 61 balls before captain Raina’s accurate Marlon Samuels st PPatel b Mishra 1 Bishoo claimed him to a catch at return caught him short. Danza Hyatt b Mishra 1 backward point. That dismissal brought Kieron Pollard c PPatel b Harbhajan 6 Raina (3) and Yusuf Pathan (1) a procession as six wickets c Dhawan b MPatel 36 followed cheaply and India were tumbled for 31 runs in 14.5 Darren Sammy c PPatel b MPatel 3 in tatters at 92-6. overs. Andre Russell not out 92 Kemar Roach not out 7 Extras: (2lb, 4w) 6 TOTAL: (for 8 wickets) 225 Overs: 50. Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-65, 3-70, 4-74, 5- 77, 6-85, 7-96, 8-174. Did not bat: Devendra Bishoo. Bowling: Praveen Kumar 10-1-46-0, Munaf Patel 10-1-60-3, 10-2- 28-3, Harbhajan Singh 10-2-24-1 (2w), Yusuf Pathan 5-0-27-0, Virat Kohli 1-0-7- 0, Suresh Raina 4-0-31-0. India Parthiv Patel c Russell b Bishoo 46 S Dhawan c Samuels b Sammy 4 Virat Kohli lbw b Sammy 0 S Badrinath run out (Russell/Baugh) 11 Rohit Sharma not out 86 Suresh Raina c Simmons b Pollard 3 Yusuf Pathan c Simmons b Bishoo 1 Harbhajan Singh c Baugh b Russell 41 Praveen Kumar not out 25 Extras: (1lb, 5w, 5nb) 11 TOTAL: (for 7 wickets) 228 Overs: 46.2. Fall of wickets: 1-29, 2-29, 3-60, 4-79, 5-88, 6-92, 7-180. Did not bat: Amit Mishra, Munaf Patel. Bowling: Kemar Roach 8.2-0-46-0 (3nb, 2w), Andre Russell 9-0-59-1 (1nb), Darren Sammy 10-2-49-2 (1w), Devendra Bishoo 10-0-41-2 (1nb), Kieron Pollard 9- 0-32-1 (1w). Result: India won by three wickets (leads five-match series 3-0). Man of the match: Andre Russell. Toss: India. Umpires: Ian Gould, England, and Norman Malcolm, Jamaica. Third umpire: Gregory Brathwaite, . Match referee: Jeff Crowe, New Zealand. Rohit Sharma’s unbeaten 86 helped India seal the series. (Ap Photo)