Handed with the responsibility of opening the attack in the washed out fourth and final ODI against West Indies here last night, Ishant was bang on target from the word go and sent packing hosts’ captain Chris Gayle for duck in the second ball of the innings.

He gave away just 17 runs in his four overs which earned him the accolades of his captain.

“He (Ishant) was concentrating more on what he needs to do rather than looking at the batsman. Today he was bowling in the right areas and there was a bit help in the pitch for the fast bowlers.”

“In the earlier matches he was bowling one change but today he looked a totally different bowler with the new ball,” Dhoni said off Ishant after India won the four-match series 2-1.

“Throughout the series if you see we batted first because there was something on offer for the fast bowlers,” he added.

With this victory, India has registered a hat-trick of series wins overseas having beaten Sri Lanka 4-1 and New Zealand 3-1 in their own backyard.

“It’s a pleasure to win series out of the country. The bowlers have took the initiative, we have very good bowling attack and the youngsters who came in and got a chance have proved himself. I think we really have a very good side,” Dhoni said.

Dhoni also lauded his deputy Yuvraj Singh and said the stylish left-hander was the backbone of the team’s batting.

“He is the backbone of our batting line. Coming in at number four he always takes up the responsibility and sets up the platform for the batsmen down the order to contribute.”

“When he sets himself up, you can rest assure he is in for a big score,” he said.

Meanwhile West Indies captain Gayle said he was disappointed to have not got a chance to level the series.

“We are very disappointed to have lost the series but you can’t really do anything in such weather conditions,” he said.

“We are looking forward to Bangladesh right now. We need to go back to the drawing board ahead of that series.”

“Morton’s return to form and Darren Bravo introduction to international cricket were the positives that has come out of the series,” he added.

The match started an hour late following heavy rains just after India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and elected to field, forcing the umpires to reduce it to a 49-over-a-side affair.

West Indies were 27 for one when rain interrupted play for the second time after they had lost the crucial wicket of skipper Chris Gayle for a duck.

Runako Morton (12 not out) and Ramnaresh Sarwan (12 not out) were at the crease when play was called off. With this victory, India registered only their second bilateral series triumph in the Caribbean. Last time they won a series in West Indies was in 2002 under Sourav Ganguly’s captaincy.

India had earlier won the first match of the series by 20 runs, while West Indies cameback strongly in the second, hammering the Dhoni-led side by eight wickets. However riding on Dhoni’s brilliance, India took the unassailable 2-1 lead, winning the third ODI by six wickets with a ball to spare.

Electing to field, Ishant Sharma gave India the dream start, picking up the vital wicket of Gayle in the second ball of the innings, caught behind by Dhoni with the hosts failing to open their account.

From there on, the West Indian batsmen found runs hard to come by against the accurate bowling of Ishant and Ashish Nehra. The hosts’ struggle can be gauged from the fact they failed to struck a single boundary in the 7.3 overs they faced.

Following is the scoreboard of the called off fourth and final one-day international between India and West Indies  here today.

West Indies:

Extras: (LB-1, W-1, NB-1)           3

Total: (for one wicket in 7.3 overs) 27

Fall of wickets: 1-0

Bowling: I Sharma 4-0-17-1, A Nehra 3.3-1-9-0.

“Someone like MS Dhoni can hit the ball out of the ground at any time so it was comforting knowing that we had him at the crease controlling the game,” said Kirsten.

Man of the match Dhoni, hit an unbeaten 46-run knock to take India through in the rain-truncated third ODI and take an unassailable 2-1 lead in the four-match series.

The wicketkeeper batsman hit a six in the last over when the team was needing 11 runs to win.

“He’s had a magnificent series and he’s played some really good one-day cricket for us.

The thrilling six-wicket triumph in the rain-truncated third one-dayer has given India a 2-1 lead in the series and a win Sunday would give the team a second series triumph here and partly make amends for the early exit from the Twenty20 World Cup in England.

The last time India won an ODI series in West Indies was 2002 when Sourav Ganguly led them to a 2-1 triumph in a five-match series, two games of which were abandoned due to rain.

But the hosts extracted revenge in 2006 when they hammered the Rahul Dravid-led Indians 1-4.

In the ongoing series, the visitors, under Mahendra Singh Dhoni, have not been too convincing.

India won by six wickets after Dhoni’s last-over heroics chasing a target that had to be revised twice yesterday. The man of the match winning wicketkeeper batsman said it wasn’t easy adjusting to the target changes.

“Everytime we thought we were in the game the Duckworth-Lewis method got us onto the backfoot. We couldn’t use our second Power Play due to that,” said Dhoni.

The Indian skipper praised the openers of Gautam Gambhir and Dinesh Karthik for laying the foundation for a successful chase.

“It was a good effort by the openers. Once we get a good start we have the firepower to see the team home,” said Dhoni, who scored unbeaten 46 runs. He also felt that the bowlers did a good job.

“Getting Gayle out was the target and the bowlers did just that. because there’s no way you can stop him other than getting him out,” said the skipper who would be looking to wrap up things in the last ODI at the same venue tomorrow. Meanwhile, losing skipper Chris Gayle praised his opposite number but felt a bit more aggressiveness on the part of his bowlers could have helped the team win the match. Frequent rain interruptions affected the West Indies momentum but Ramnaresh Sarwan ensured they registered a competitive 185 for seven from 27 overs. However, thanks to a strong opening partnership between Karthik and Gambhir and Dhoni’s heroics towards the end, India defeated the hosts to take an unassailable 2-1 lead in the four-match series.

“We felt we had our chance after scoring 185. But we needed to be a bit more attacking at the start of the Indian innings,” said Gayle at the post-match ceremony. The skipper lamented the frequent stoppages due to rain.

“Weather made it difficult, but we can’t do anything about it. In the end we tried to pull it off but credit to Dhoni, he saw the team home,” Gayle added.

The 20-year-old Bravo, who made his international debut against India in the on-going four-match one-day series, is actually Lara’s nephew, revealed his mother Earlene Bravo.

“Brian’s (Lara) mother is my father’s sister. So we are first cousins,” Earlene was quoted as saying in the media.

From the time he was young, he had those antics just like Brian, it’s in his genes. I was on a taxi in Jamaica on the way to cricket and the guy didn’t know who I was.

Frequent rain interruptions affected the West Indies momentum but Ramnaresh Sarwan ensured they registered a competitive 185 for seven from 27 overs. However, thanks to a strong opening partnership between Dinesh Karthik and Gautam Gambhir and Dhoni’s heroics towards the end, India defeated the West Indies by six wickets via Duckworth-Lewis method and take an unassailable 2-1 lead in the four-match series.

“We felt we had our chance after scoring 185. But we needed to be a bit more attacking at the start of the Indian innings,” said Gayle at the post-match ceremony.

The skipper lamented the frequent stoppages due to rain.

Needing 11 runs off the last over after the target was revised to 159 from 22 overs, Dhoni (46 not out) sent Jerome Taylor’s second delivery for a six over mid-wicket as India won with a ball to spare.

The one-dayer was almost reduced to a Twenty20 fixture as it witnessed as many as four stoppages due to rain during the West Indies innings – including a two hour and five minutes delay at the start of the match. The interruptions forced the overs to be brought down to 27 per side.

Following is the scoreboard of the third One-day International between India and the West Indies at the Beausejour Stadium, here.

West Indies

Extras (LB-7, W-3) 10

Total (for 7 wickets in 27 overs) 185

Fall of wickets: 1-27, 2-78, 3-125, 4-135, 5-169, 6-172,7-185.

Bowling: Sharma 5-0-35-0; Nehra 5-1-21-3; RP Singh 5-0-34-0; Harbhajan 5-0-35-2;
Yuvraj 2-0-19-0; Rohit 1-0-7-0; Pathan 4-0-27-1.

India

Extras (LB-4, W-3, NB-1) 8

Total (for 4 wickets in 21.5 overs) 159

Bowling: Taylor 3.5-0-39-0; Rampaul 4-0-26-0; Bravo 4-0-27-1; Bernard 3-0-21-1;
Benn 5-0-31-1; Gayle 2-0-11-0.

The hosts braved the stop-start game, which witnessed as many as four rain interruptions and brought the overs down to 27 per side, to post a competitive total after India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and opted to field. Sarwan (62) was involved in two crucial partnerships, 51 runs with Runako Morton (22) and another 48 with Shivnarine Chanderpaul (15) before he was run out going for a non-existent second.

Gautam Gambhir’s strong throw found Sarwan short of the mark. His 58-ball stay included five fours and a six. He carried on the momentum provided by captain Chris Gayle (27), who gave the hosts a rollicking start after the match started two hours and five minutes late following a rain delay that first reduced the match to 41 overs a side.

Gayle hit Ishant Sharma for a couple of boundaries in each of his first two overs.

Left-arm pacer Ashish Nehra received similar treatment in his second over, another couple of boundaries, before rain intervened with the West Indies at 27 for no loss from 3.3 overs. Play resumed after a 15-minute delay but the distraction was enough to unsettle the West Indies captain, who departed chasing a widish delivery from Nehra.

Gayle slashed the first ball after resumption and Dhoni did the rest behind stumps. His 14-ball stay at the crease had six hits to the fence. Morton (22 off 34 balls), who was a silent spectator till then was joined by Sarwan and the duo took the score to 56 for one from 9.1 overs before rain intervened for a third time.

Following another 15-minute delay, the overs were reduced to 36 per side. However, rain forced play to be suspended again just two deliveries on re-start with the hosts on 57 for one. This time play remained suspended for an hour and 20 minutes before it resumed with the overs reduced to 27 a side.

Morton greeted RP Singh with a four but fell soon after, failing to read Harbhajan Singh’s doosra and was stumped by Dhoni with the score reading 78 for two. Sarwan though didn’t let the stoppages affect his rhythm as he took 16 runs off one Yuvraj Singh over to help the hosts go past the 100-run mark in 16 overs. Along with the vastly experienced Chanderpaul, the duo put on 48 runs before the left-hander departed trying to hoist Yusuf Pathan over mid-on and Nehra doing the rest.

Left-arm pacer Nehra was the pick of the Indian bowlers, taking three wickets for 21 runs off his five overs.