India Beat Windies; win ODI series

Despite a fighting half-century from Shivnaraine Chanderpaul, West Indies lost the one-day series to India by 56 runs under the Duckworth Lewis rule -- a method to revise targets due to rain interruptions. India won the five match one-day series 2-1 after the first two matches were washed out due to rain.

West Indies Innings:

The Windies openers walked out in the middle needing 261 runs in 49 overs after being docked one over due to slow over-rate. In the second over of the innings, Zaheer Khan rapped Wavell Hinds on his pads bang in front of the wickets. Umpire Russel Tiffin turned down the appeal much to the disappointment of the Indians.

Showers forced the players off the field after only 11 deliveries were bowled.

Minutes after the players took to the field again, Ashish Nehra pitched one outside off and moved it a shade away from Hinds, taking the edge of the bat to Virender Sehwag at second slip.

In the next over, Khan yorked Chris Gayle -- the man-of-the-match in the fourth one-dayer -- for 3 as Windies lost both their openers with 12 runs on the board.

In a bizarre series of events, the match referee confirmed that five overs would be deducted due to the rain delay, but failed to provide the revised target for the West Indies. So play continued with neither of the two sides being aware of the target.

The reason being that none of the officials were able to deduce the new target from the Duckworth Lewis Method.

After much confusion the match referee set the new target at 248 in 44 overs.

Brian Lara survived when Sehwag grassed a sharp chance at second slip off Nehra. He celebrated by spanking Harbhajan Singh for a boundary.

Ramnaresh Sarwan, playing with a watertight defence, failed to step up the scoring rate and despite some delightful strokes, that included an exquisite six over long-off, didn't look as if he would take his team to victory. Harbhajan Singh finally bowled him for 26. (73-3)

Three runs and six balls later, skipper Carl Hooper -- enjoying the finest series of his career -- failed an attempted pull off Ajit Agarkar as the leading edge landed comfortably in the hands of Sehwag at mid-off. The Windies skipper was dismissed for a duck.

Lara, playing in front of his home crowd, struggled to find form and survived a stumping chance off Sachin Tendulkar when part-time keeper Rahul Dravid failed to collect the ball.

Off the next ball, a waist-high full-toss, Lara swung the ball straight into the hands of Dinesh Mongia at deep square-leg for 36 runs. With five West Indian batsmen back in the hut for 88 runs, the match and series seemed lost for the hosts.

Chanderpaul, the man-of-the-Test-series, was joined by keeper Ridley Jacobs with the asking rate rocketing towards eight an over.

The left-handed Guyanese batsman collared Sehwag, bowling his harmless off-cutters, to the cover fence twice before Ganguly dropped a tough catch off Tendulkar at mid-wicket.

The Chanderpaul-Jacobs pair smashed the Indian bowlers all over the Queen's Park, racing away to a 67-run partnership in eight overs. Chanderpaul registered his half-century in 38 balls as the Indians began to feel the heat once again.

The Guyanese finally departed, top-edging the ball to Ganguly at mid-wicket off Harbhajan Singh for 51, as West Indies lost its sixth wicket for 159.

The hosts required a further 86 runs in 11 overs when Mervyn Dillon was run out by a brilliant direct hit from Yuvraj Singh. After much appealing by the Indians, umpire Eddie Nichols asked for the television replay. The third umpire ruled the batsman short of his crease even though Nichols had signalled a leg-bye earlier.

A double-blow from Ajit Agarkar settled the match in India's favour. Ridley Jacobs, chancing his arm once too often, top-edged the ball and Harbhajan Singh took a marvellous running catch. The left-handed keeper had blazed 36 runs in 31 balls.

Off the very next ball, Agarkar was on a hat-trick as he crashed the ball into Pedro Collins's stumps with one wicket separating India from a series win. Cameron Cuffy, however, negotiated the hat-trick ball well.

Nehra claimed the final wicket when Cuffy smashed a full-toss high up in the air for Agarkar to gobble the catch.

Indian innings:

Earlier, Ganguly won his fourth consecutive toss and chose to bat on a wicket dried by the scorching sun. India brought back Tendulkar for V V S Laxman and dropped Tinu Yohannan for Nehra. The hosts named an unchanged side for the final game.

Sehwag got off the mark with a boundary through covers off Cuffy and seemed determined to make up for the two cheap dismissals earlier in the series.

After the first five overs that fetched 11 runs, Sehwag thumped Cuffy straight down the ground for two boundaries, then dispatched Dillon to the cover fence twice.

Sehwag, failing to learn from his previous dismissals, flicked Dillon to Chris Gayle at mid-wicket and walked back to the pavilion with 32 runs of 32 balls.

Ganguly pulled Corey Colleymore through mid-wicket as India crossed the fifty-run mark in the eleventh over.

Dinesh Mongia and Ganguly kept the scoring rate close to 5, as India made 70 runs of the first 15 overs. Mongia, who tends to play away from his body, received a reprieve when Shivnaraine Chanderpaul at gully grassed a sharp chance off Pedro Collins.

Mongia skied Colleymore over long-off as Cuffy held the ball but crossed over the fence and the umpire signalled a six. Two balls later Mongia, deceived by a slower ball, scooped an easy catch to Gayle at short mid-wicket and was dismissed for 28. (105-2)

Tendulkar began his innings by poking at deliveries angled across to him by left-armer Pedro Collins, his nemesis in the Test series.

At the halfway stage India had reached 127-2 with Ganguly closing in on his half-century and Tendulkar searching to find the sweet spot of his bat. Playing a silken late cut to the third man fence off Dillon, Ganguly registered his first half-century of the series.

Dillon surprised Ganguly with a short ball as the Indian skipper pulled half-heartedly at Ramnaresh Sarwan at mid-wicket. India lost Ganguly for 56 with India at 141-3.

Rahul Dravid walked out at number five with India looking to accelerate the scoring. And therein lies the problem with the Indian batting line-up -- lack of specialised positions for batsmen after Tendulkar.

After a steady 46 run partnership for the fourth wicket, Dravid reached for a Carl Hooper delivery and lobbed an easy catch to mid-wicket fielder Sarwan for 20. (187-4)

Tendulkar, growing in confidence, thumped Hooper over the mid-wicket fence for six as India crossed the 200-run mark.

After reaching his half-century of an over-throw, Tendulkar egged Yuvraj Singh to accelerate the scoring rate. Gayle, bowling his fastish off-cutters, beat Yuvraj Singh for pace and disturbed his stumps. (212-5)

The upshot for India at that stage was the fact that despite the top five having fallen, Tendulkar was still at the crease.

The thought was, however, short-lived as Tendulkar, looking to break the shackles, inside edged Dillon back onto his stumps to get out for 65 with the Indian total at 239-6.

Mohammad Kaif, trying a reverse-sweep off Gayle, saw the ball sneak between his legs and dislodge the bails. (248-7)

Ajit Agarkar skied Dillon to Hooper straight behind the bowler; Collins swallowed Zaheer Khan at long-on off Dillon to give him his second five-wicket haul. India was bowled out for 260 of the last ball of the innings when Gayle castled last man Ashish Nehra.

Scoreboard