In the fourth and final ODI on Wednesday in Vadodara, India fired on all cylinders and dominated the West Indies in winning by 160 runs. It was the kind of match where everything went right for India, while conversely, everything went horribly wrong for the West Indies.
Lara won the toss and again sent in the opposition. A tactic that has become a stable of the West Indies. The theory being that the team is stronger batting than bowling, so get the bowling out of the way as soon as possible, with the confidence that the batting can overcome whatever the opposition score. It almost worked in the first match of this series, when the Indians made 338. This time, the tactic failed miserably.
Sent in to bat, the Indians racked up 341, with half-centuries from Dravid and Ganguly (what were the Indian selectors thinking when they dropped him?) and a masterful century from Sachin Tendulkar. Tendulkar made 100n.o. off 76 balls. However, he should have been dismissed a few times before he reached triple digits, as the West Indies dropped a couple of easy chances. Tendulkar's probably wasn't even the best Indian innings, as Mahendra Singh Dhoni set up the big score when he blasted 40 off only 20 balls. Tendulkar, standing at the other end throughout Dhoni's innings, seemed to switch gears after Dhoni's departure and saw India home to the massive score. Only Chris Gayle's figures (1-34 off 8 overs) weren't spoiled by the onslaught. Daren Powell went for 68 off 8 overs.
When the West Indies came to bat, the West Indies lost wickets early and at regular intervals and never was able to mount a challenge. When Lara was unluckily run out for 3 (the ball ricocheted off the bowler's hand onto the wicket when Lara backed up too far) in the 15th over with the score 72 for 4, the game was all but lost. Only the in form Marlon Samuels, who made 55, and wicketkeeper Ramdin (40), got among the runs as the Windies folded for 181. Runako Morton, who didn't play in this match, has gotten a lot of flak from this blog for his recent failings, but maybe Dwayne Smith should get more. He is averaging 7.13 in his last 21 ODIs (16 innings). The West Indies will be left to pick up the pieces and try to figure out what went so wrong in this match.
India won the series 3-1, with the player of the match and the series being Tendulkar. The 341 runs that India scored were the highest ever scored against the West Indies in an ODI. It surpassed the previous record: the 338 that India scored at Nagpur in the first game of this series as well as the 338 that Australia scored in Melbourne of February 2001.
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