St John’s (Antigua): Keiron Pollard and Lendl Simmons struck crucial half-centuries to take the West Indies to a competitive 249 for eight in 50 overs against India in the fourth One-day International of the series here Monday.
Pollard remained unbeaten on 70, his highest score against a Test playing nation, while opener Simmons made a crucial 67 to pull out the West Indies from another middle-order collapse at the Vivian Richards Stadium.
Put in, West Indies were teetering at 89 for four, but Simmons and Pollard played intelligently and a late charge by wicketkeeper Carlton Baugh (39) and Andre Russell (25) gave the hosts their best total of the season.
The West Indies batsmen were made to word hard by medium pacer Praveen Kumar (3/37) and leg-spinner Amit Mishra (2/56), who between them bowled six maidens. Comeback man Ishant Sharma started impressively by dismissing Danza Hyatt (1) in the second over but went on to concede 60 runs from his 10 overs.
Hyatt’s wicket triggered a collapse and West Indies were 103 for five in the 27th over. Pollard and Baugh then did the repair work with their 96-run stand for the sixth wicket.
Pollard was impressive with his shot selection and all his big hits were down the ground. Pollard hit six fours and two sixes and departed in the 45th over after he charged spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and holed out to Ishant at long-off.
Baugh and Russell then added quick 41 runs for the seventh wicket. Russell hit three fours and a six in his 14-ball 25 as West Indies got 57 in the Powerplay.
India won the toss and decided to field against the West Indies. India made three changes from the playing eleven that won the third ODI, bringing in R Ashwin, Ishant Sharma and Manoj Tiwary for Harbhajan Singh, Shikhar Dhawan and Munaf Patel.
West Indies made two changes with Anthony Martin and Darren Bravo coming in for Devendra Bishoo and Kirk Edwards.
Teams:
India: Suresh Raina (captain), Parthiv Patel (wicket-keeper), Virat Kohli, Subramanium Badrinath, Manoj Tiwary, Rohit Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Praveen Kumar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma.
West Indies: Darren Sammy (captain), Lendl Simmons, Darren Bravo, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Danza Hyatt, Marlon Samuels, Kieron Pollard, Carlton Baugh (wicket-keeper), Andre Russell, Kemar Roach, Anthony Martin.
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