West Indies captain Jason Holder put up an inspiring show with the ball in the fourth ODI at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, Antigua to lead his team to a memorable win over India by 11 runs. Chasing a modest total of 190, Indian batsmen got off to a poor start as they lost Shikhar Dhawan (5), Virat Kohli (3) and Dinesh Karthik (2) in quick succession.
The visitors were struggling at 47/3 in 13 overs but a solid and cautious 54 runs partnership between Ajinkya Rahane and MS Dhoni somewhat stabilised the Indian innings.
Rahane who scored another fifty in the five-match series was bamboozled by the spin of Devendra Bishoo in the 31st over. He played a good hand of 60 off 91 balls. Soon hard-hitter Kedar Jadhav (10) was also dismissed by Ashley Nurse to put more brakes on the Indian batting. All-rounder Hardik Pandya (20) gave some support to the former skipper Dhoni at the other end.
The Dhoni-Pandya duo built a crucial 43-run partnership before Hardik was bowled off a good delivery by Jason Holder. The men in blue choked badly at the death as the hosts defended just 16 off the last two overs. Holder and pacer Kesrick Williams gave away just four runs while taking three wickets to help their side keep the five-match series alive. India, however, lead the series 2-1 after the first ODI was abandoned due to rain.
Holder was the star performer for West Indies, the lanky all-rounder led from the front as he picked up an important five-for while giving away just 27 runs.
Speaking after the match, the West Indies captain seemed very pleased with the effort and applauded the effort of his inexperienced side. “Extremely pleased with the guys. It took a big effort and credit to all the bowlers. Everyone came in and gave it their all. The fielding was also supportive. It shows if we believe, we can compete. Throughout the series we have spoken about getting wickets with the new ball, India's top-order has done the scoring; removing Shikhar Dhawan and Rahane was important as their middle-order has done very less work.”
“In his second game, Williams showed a lot of maturity and bowled with a lot of heart. It (batting) is an area of concern. 250 is a par score, but we have another game to turn it around. The good thing is that the series is still alive. I always believe in myself. I have been bowling well so far, the only criticism is with my back-end bowling. We have to show heart. We have to show fight. If we put our minds, we give it all, we can get a good result,” the elated 25-year old concluded.
