West Indies 260-5 (Samuels 58) beat
India 244 (Sharma 95, Rampaul 4-57) by 16 runs
Third One-Day International, Ahmedabad
The West Indies smashed 93 runs in the final seven overs of their innings and Ravi Rampaul then took four wickets to condemn India to a 16-run defeat in the third One-Day International in Ahmedabad.
Darren Sammy and Andre Russell combined in belligerent fashion to haul the tourists up to a score of 260 for five after Marlon Samuels had also made 58 before India were bowled out for 244 in reply.
Rohit Sharma's third half-century in as many innings went in vain as Rampaul returned four for 57 and debutant off-spinner Sunil Narine two for 34 to hand India their first defeat on home soil in 12 matches.
West Indies' first victory since arriving in India leaves the series nicely poised at 2-1 to India heading to the fourth match in Indore on 8th December.
Batting first, the West Indies started cautiously, losing Lendl Simmons for one and Danza Hyatt for 20 in 38 balls before Marlon Samuels stabilised the innigns by making 58 in 93 balls, hitting five fours and a six.
He was given good support from Darren Bravo (26), Denesh Ramdin (38) and Kieron Pollard (29) but the real fireworks began when Sammy and Russell came together with the score on 181 for six in the 45th over and even a score of 200 looking a way off.
Exhibiting excellent timing and power, Russel hammered 40 not out in 18 balls with four fours and two sixes while Sammy was even more expansive, crashing five fours and two sixes in an entertaining knock of 41 not out in 17 deliveries.
Abhimanyu Mithun, brought into the side for the game as a replacement for Varun Aaron, bore the brunt of the punishment leaking 47 runs in seven overs for the wicket of Hyatt.
Ranganath Viny Kumar picked up two for 39 while Umesh Yadav leaked 75 runs in nine overs while India's spinners - Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin and Suresh Raina - were typically impressive as their combined 26 overs went for just 97 runs.
Rampaul, whose heroics with the bat almost set up a West Indies win in the second game, then gave a performance with the ball to inspire, almost immediately having Virender Sehwag caught by Ramdin and Gautam Gambhir leg before offering no stroke to leave India eight for two and two of their best batsmen back in the pavilion having faced one ball apiece.
Parthiv Patel (39) and Virat Kohli (20) made steady progress, Kohli effortlessly guiding a couple of boundaries through the off side before he became Narine's first wicket, leg before wicket.
Patel then took the score to 79 in partnership with the graceful Sharma until his innings was ended when he was bowled by Samuels, who had a fine all-round match.
Suresh Raina's appalling run of low scores continued when he was adjudged to have edged Rampaul to Ramdin - the sort of decision that the Decision Review System which is not in use for this series is designed to rid the game of - and his disappointment was plain to see having made just two.
Jadeja made 11 before he was called through for an impossible single by Sharma and was comfortably run out after a good pick up and throw from Russell.
It left Sharma with Ashwin and Test cricket's newest centurion acquitted himself well, scoring 31 while at the other end Sharma completed his 11th half-century. The pair put on 91 to put their side into a strong position but the West Indies' fighting spirit never wavered and the broke the stand when Ashwin was trapped in front by Narine.
Vinay Kumar was quickly bowled by Kemar Roach for three and Sharma's innings of 95 in 100 balls came to a disappointing end for a good-sized home crowd when he was run out by Sammy.
Mithun (23) and Yadav (11 not out) tried to engineer a final twist with some well-timed shots - Mithun blasting two sixes - but their stand and India's resistance was broken once and for all when Rampaul had Mithun trapped in front.
© Cricket World 2011