India vs West Indies: Hosts cruise to an easy victory to win series 3-1

India cruised to a nine-wicket win over the West Indies in the fifth and final ODI to win the series 3-1 in an emphatic manner in Thiruvananathapuram on Thursday.

Riding on a 63 by Rohit Sharma and a supportive 33 run-knock from skipper Virat Kohli, the hosts cantered to a win with 211 balls remaining as they made short work of a 105-run chase in juar 14.5 overs.

However, it was all due to the efforts of the bowlers, led by Ravindra Jadeja who starred with four wickets in his 9.5 overs as he choked the batsman, conceding just 34 runs and even bowling a maiden in the process. The initial breakthroughs were provided by Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah who dismissed Kieron Powell and the in-form Shai Hope to reduce the visitors to 2/2 at one stage.

Dhoni was not sure but Sir Jadeja says it's out. Jaddu supersedes Dhoni and it's hitting the stumps. A reluctant review pays off. pic.twitter.com/IXdINbkqQ7

— This is HUGE! (@ghanta_10) November 1, 2018

The experienced Marlon Samuels then came to the crease to arrest the slump and make sure that a repeat of their batting effort in the fourth match doesn’t happen. But he too fell cheaply for just 24 runs of 36 balls as India were well on top with the scorecard reading 36/3 at the end of 12 overs.

Jadeja, after having dismissed Samuels got the big wicket of Shimron Hetmyer, who has been impressive in the series. A fuller ball from Jadeja was misread by left-hander as was trapped right in front of the wicket. However, India had to take the assistance of the DRS to ensure that they have dismissed the southpaw after on-field umpire Anil Chaudhary had denied the appeal.  Rovman Powell’s painstaking stay at the crease for 16 off 39 balls was ended with Khaleel Ahmed added one to his tally when a bouncer by him was miscued and Shikhar Dhawan safely pouched the catch at deep square leg.

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Ahmed then got rid of Holder who was caught at mid-off by Kedar Jadhav as the West Indies lost all their steam and were reduced to 87/7. Nonetheless, they somehow managed to cross that 100-run mark and were eventually shot out for 104 with Jadeja claiming the last two wickets.

The small 105-run target was made a mockery of by the Indians who powered their way to the total and won it without dropping a sweat. However, Dhawan’s ODI form which hasn’t been that great in recent times continued to deteriorate as he was the only Indian batter to dismissed when Oshane Thomas disturbed the woodwork behind him for just 6 runs.

Brief score:  India 105/1 (Rohit Sharma 63*, Virat Kohli 33*, Oshane Thomas 1/33) best West Indies 104 all out (Jason Holder 26, Marlon Samuels 25; Ravindra Jadeja 4/34) by nine wickets.