Led by skipper Virat Kohli, Team India completed the formalities of the series win in fifth and final ODI at Jamaica beating West Indies comprehensively by eight wickets. Kohli hailed his team's performance as - clinical and thoroughly professional and said that they would like to take the momentum to the lone T20I to be played on Sunday.
The Indian skipper scored his 28th ODI hundred as the visitors wrapped up the five-match series in style by 3-1 at the Sabina Park on Thursday. With this knock, the Delhi-born batsman broke Sachin Tendulkar’s (17) record for most hundreds in the one-day format while batting second. Kohli scored his 18th ton while chasing for India.
West Indies skipper Jason Holder won the toss and elected to bat first. For India, pacer Mohammed Shami bagged four and Umesh Yadav picked up three wickets as the Men in Blue produced a disciplined bowling effort to restrict the hosts to a modest 205 for nine.
Kyle Hope (46) and his brother Shai (51) were the top scorers for West Indies as they clawed to 200 that once looked tough for them.
Kedar Jadhav and Hardik Pandya also chipped in with a wicket each.
All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja didn't pick up any wicket but his tight bowling kept the pressure on the West Indian batters.
Chasing the total, India hardly faced any trouble as Kohli (111 not out) and ever-consistent Ajinkya Rahane (39 off 51) shared 79 runs for the second wicket in 17.5 overs to set the platform for the comfortable win.
Together with Dinesh Karthik (50 not off 52 balls), the 28-year-old stitched unbeaten 122 runs for the third wicket to take the team home with more than 13 overs to spare.
"It was a clinical performance and we are really happy with it. From a personal point of view and from a team point of view it was a complete day. We would like to take momentum to Sunday's T20I," Kohli was quoted by ANI.
"The intent today was not to get stuck and string in too many dot balls. It was to get away the boundaries every now and then and for that, you need a clear mind set as in when to get a boundary and then, you know when to keep the scoreboard ticking as well. So, yeah, after a disappointing last game, I think, today was really clinical and we are very happy with it," he added.
