Lara, Samuels fashion Windies victory

Chennai, Jan 27 (UNI) West Indies skipper Brian Lara (83) and Marlon Samuels (98) scored brilliant half-centuries to help the visitors canter to a three-wicket win against India in the third ODI at the M A Chidambaram Stadium here tonight.

Earlier, India floundered after a brilliant start with opener Robin Uthappa smashed 70 off only 41 balls and half centuries by Sachin Tendulkar (60) and skipper Rahul Dravid (57) setting a target of 268. At one time India was set to score a big target but the tail gave in without struggle with none the last five batsmen reaching double figure.

India failed to last the stipulated 50 overs and were all out in the 48th over.

Chasing on a batsmen-friendly wicket, Windies overhauled the target with plenty to spare, finishing at 270 for 7 in 43.4 overs for their first win in the series. The win reduced the Caribbean deficit to 2-1 in the four match series.

West Indies shrugged off initial jitters after Lara and Samuels added 127 for the third wicket in 128 balls, to put their side on course for victory.

The visitors lost opener Chris Gayle (0) off the first ball and then Runako Morton (1) in quick succession. Devon Smith scored 33 and added 65 with Samuels for the third wicket, before Lara took centrestage with his vintage strokeplay.

Three late wickets by India, including that of Lara, who fell 12 runs short of target, only delayed the inevitable as Windies romped home with 6.2 overs to spare.

Earlier, India, after a splendid knock by comeback man Robin Uthappa crumbled from 232 for three in 34.3 overs to 268 all out, losing their last seven wickets for 36 runs in 13.3 overs.

For the Caribbean medium pacer Bravo, who was clobbered for 19 runs in his very first over by Uthappa (three 4s and a 6) came back strongly, picking up four wickets to finish with an impressive analysis of 9-0-39-4. Uthappa's 41-ball 71 was punctuated with 11 fours and two sixes.

Lara marshalled his resources judiciously with clever bowling changes to apply the brakes on the rampaging Indians who scored at nearly seven an over, with Sachin Tendulkar and skipper Rahul Dravid adding 106 for the fourth wicket in 115 balls.

The exit of Sachin and Dravid in quick succession, triggered a collapse and India's hopes of a 300-plus score evaporated in thin air.

The Windies chase was jolted early with the first ball dismissal of Chris Gayle (his second successive duck in as many matches ) and Runako Morton in the first three overs.

Ajit Agarkar, bowling with a lot of fire, picked both the wickets, trapping Gayle in front and finding the edge of Morton reducing the visitors to 27 for two in 2.4 overs.

Undaunted by the two setbacks, Opener Smith and Samuels stepped up the chase hitting the mediocre Indian attack to all parts of the ground.

Both Agarkar and Sreesanth erred in length allowing the batsmen to thrive. Boundaries came thick and fast as Smith and Samuels added 65 runs for the third wicket in 9.5 overs, setting the stage for Lara to take over. Smith fell to a sharp reflex catch by Dravid in the slip off Kumble, who was brought on quite early in the 11th over.

Despite the wicket of Smith, there was no respite for the Indians and Lara unleashed his wide repertoire of strokes.

Samuels too joined the run riot as the Windies closed in on the target, reaching 100 in 15.1 overs, 150 in 20.4 overs and 200 in 29.3 overs.

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