Indore: Virender Sehwag scored a blistering 219 as a merciless India clinched the ODI series against West Indies with a convincing 153-run win in the fourth one-dayer to take an unassailable 3-1 lead.
Denesh Ramdin threw away a possible maiden ODI century, being last man out as he wildly slog-swept Suresh Raina to be caught for 96, but no other batsmen put up much of a fight. Chasing a mammoth target of 419, West Indies were bowled out for 265 in 49.2 overs.
Ramdin was the lone fighter in the visitors’ innings. Lendl Simmons (36), Marlon Samuels (33) and allrounder Andre Russell (29) got starts but could not translate them into big knocks.
Ravindra Jadeja (3 for 34), debutant spinner Rahul Sharma (3 for 43), part-timer Suresh Raina (2 for 17) and R Ashwin (1 for 59) accounted for nine wickets. Sharma, who has been touring with the side for almost two months, was preferred over the recalled Irfan Pathan and completely foxed West Indies after Sehwag's murderous assault had already demoralised them.
Introduced into the attack in the 12th over, he struck thrice in his three overs to help reduce West Indies to 100 for 5.
From there, West Indies decided to bat out time instead of playing shots, and the match ended in stark contrast to how it began - tamely. Ramdin was the last man to go and his 64-run partnership with No. 11 Sunil Narine merely kept India on the field longer than they would have liked.
Earlier, Sehwag hammered the highest ever score in ODI cricket as India amassed their best total. Last February, Sachin Tendulkar reached 200 not out against South Africa, but Thursday saw Sehwag go 19 better in a knock of truly brutal proportions.
Racing through the records across a Holkar Cricket Stadium pitch void of any help for the bowlers, Sehwag hit seven sixes and a record-equalling 25 fours during his 149-ball innings. In the process he starred in two century stands alongside Gautam Gambhir (67) and Raina (55).
West Indies weren’t helped by some sloppy fielding. Sehwag was on 20 when Kieron Pollard's direct hit missed the stumps with the batsman nowhere near the crease, and his landmark innings would not have materialised either had his opposite number Darren Sammy, running from extra cover, not dropped an easy catch off Ravi Rampaul. Sehwag was batting on 170 at that stage. Pollard eventually removed a tired Sehwag in the 47th over but the batsman by then had ensured India posted their fourth 400-plus total in one-day cricket.
All the front-line bowlers leaked runs aplenty. Kemar Roach gave away 88 for no success while Rampaul, who had grabbed a four-wicket haul in Ahmedabad, conceded 66 runs for one wicket. Andre Russell and Narine, who made an impressive debut in the third ODI, also conceded 63 (from seven overs) and 46 runs (from six overs), respectively.
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