Kanpur ODI: India ride on Shikhar Dhawan's century to beat WI, clinch ODI series 2-1

India on Wednesday clinched the ODI series against West Indies 21 with a comfortable fivewicket victory in the third and final match here riding on Shikhar Dhawan39s sparkling century The Indians first restricted West Indies to 263 for five and then overhauled the target with 23 balls to spare to lift yet another ODI trophy at home Dhawan stole the limelight with an attacking 119 that came off 95 balls his fifth ODI hundred while Yuvraj Singh notched up a 74ball 55 to seal the issue for the home side at the Green Park Stadium which was hosting an international game after a gap of nearly four yearsu00a0 It was a welcome return to form for Yuvraj who cautiously put together 129 runs for the third wicket with Dhawan to set the platform for the easy winu00a0 Shikhar Dhawan Pic AFP India39s chase did not start on a very good note even though Dhawan made his intentions clear in just the second over of the innings when he clobbered Jason Holder thrice to the fence The hosts lost Rohit Sharma in the fifth over with just 20 runs on the board Rohit gave a straightforward catch to Dwayne Bravo at the first slip while trying to push at an away going delivery from Ravi Rampaul Virat Kohli looked in great touch during his brief 19run stay but he too was undone by Rampaul39s probing length outside the off stump While trying to leave a delivery at the last moment the ball just brushed Kohli39s bat on to the safe hands of wicketkeeper Johnson Charles But from there on it was a DhawanYuvraj show as the duo went about its business in style and shared the runaball century partnership Dhawan was the aggressive one among the two The hallmark of Dhawan39s innings was his elegant drives through the extra cover region and shortarm pulls Dhawan sent the West Indies bowlers39 on a leather hunt and found the fence at will He completely dominated the Caribbean attack and hit as many as 20 boundaries during his fiery knock By the time Yuvraj and Dhawan got out they had ensured the seriesclinching victory for India Yuvraj was caught by Dwayne Bravo at the slip off Sunil Narine in the 31st over but not before the lefthander reached his fifty which was laced with seven fours Dhawan finally departed in the 38th over caught by Dwayne Bravo of his own bowling as the bat turned in his hand Dhoni 23 not out and Ravindra Jadeja 2 not out completed the formalities for India with consummate ease Earlier the trio of Kieran Powell Marlon Samuels and Darren Bravo struck halfcenturies to propel West Indies to a challenging 263 for five Powell 70 carried on his good form from the last match and registered his second fifty of the series Together with Samuels 71 he shared a 117run secondwicket partnership to lay the foundation for West Indies after the visitors were put into bat by India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni Towards the end Darren Bravo 51 not out and Darren Sammy 37 not out played aggressively to take West Indies past the 260run mark Comfortably placed at 137 for one at one stage West Indies looked set for a big score but India staged a comeback with quick wickets to restrict West Indies to the manageable score For the hosts offspinner Ravichandran Ashwin was the pick of the bowlers with figures of two for 45 from his quota of 10 overs Dhoni39s decision to bowl first after winning the toss did not yield the desired result as his bowlers could pick up just one wicket before Powell and Samuels joined hands to take West Indies forward Marlon Samuels and Kieran Powell Pic AFP Opener Johnson Charles 11 failed yet again when Bhuvneshwar Kumar went through his defence in the fifth over with a perfect inswinger leaving West Indies at 20 for one But thereafter Powell and Samuels got together and played sensibly mixing caution with aggression to stitch a century stand for the second wicket and lay the foundation for a big total Both Powell and Samuels were cautious in their approach as they brought up the West Indies fifty in 113 overs Both the batsmen were content to see off the new ball in the morning The duo kept rotating the strike with ones and twos and punished loose deliveries that came their way But once they managed to set in their eyes both Powell and Samuels played freely and in the process brought up their 50run stand in 53 balls Samuels finally opened up and welcomed offspinner R Ashwin with a huge six over longon as West Indies reached the 100run mark in 212 overs Powell was the aggressor as he reached his halfcentury in 66 balls with the help of six boundaries Samuels on the other hand played second fiddle and took 73 balls to score his fifty But just when it seemed the duo might run away with the initiative both Powell who scored 59 in the last match and Samuels once again threw their wickets away Powell and Samuels who was dropped on 60 by Virat Kohli at slip off Ravindra Jadeja failed to convert their fifties into threefigure scores as Ashwin brought India back into the match by dismissing both the set batsmen in a span of 37 balls Ashwin broke the dangerouslooking 177run partnership when Powell gave a simple catch to Shikhar Dhawan at short fineleg trying to sweep the offspinner He scored 70 runs off 81 deliveries and struck nine boundaries in the process A few overs later Ashwin was once again in the thick of things when he went through Samuels39 defence by luring the batsman with a tossed up delivery Samuels who made 71 off 93 balls laced his innings with seven boundaries and one six Darren Bravo on the other hand started in an attacking fashion and hit Ashwin for a four and six in consecutive balls West Indies decision to take the batting powerplay in the 35th over backfired as the visitors lost two key wickets scoring just 26 runs New man in Lendl Simmons 13 too perished early in search of quick runs He hit Jadeja for two boundaries in the 39th over before the leftarm spinner took his revenge when the batsman failed to negotiate extra bounce and edged one to Dhoni while going for a cut Skipper Dwayne Bravo 4 did not help his reputation either and holed out to Ashwin while going for his favourite extravagant lofted shot over extra cover off Mohammed Shami as West Indies slumped to 196 for five from a comfortable position But Darren Bravo and Sammy ensured a decent total for their bowlers to defend stitching unbeaten 69 runs off 49 balls for the sixth wicket Both Darren Bravo and Sammy used their long handles to great effect Scoreboard West Indies J Charles b Kumar 11 K Powell c Dhawan b Ashwin 70 M Samuels b Ashwin 71 Darren Bravo not out 51 L Simmons c Dhoni b Jadeja 13 Dwayne Bravo c Ashwin b Shami 4 D Sammy not out 37 Extras LB2 WD3 NB1 6 Total For 5 wickets in 50 overs 263 Fall of wickets 120 2137 3168 4187 5196 Bowling B Kumar 80421 M Sharma 70470 Mohammed Shami 101491 R Ashwin 100452 S Raina 50290 R Jadeja 100491u00a0 India Rohit Sharma c Dwayne Bravo b Rampaul 4 Shikhar Dhawan campb Dwayne Bravo 119 Virat Kohli c Charles b Rampaul 19 Yuvraj Singh c Dwayne Bravo b Narine 55 Suresh Raina c Charles b Dwayne Bravo 34 MS Dhoni not out 23 Ravindra Jadeja not out 2 Extras LB5 W4 NB1 10 Total For 5 wkts 461 overs 266 Fall of wickets 129 261 3190 4218 5255 Bowling Ravi Rampaul 101552 Jason Holder 60470 Dwayne Bravo 100572 Sunil Narine 101321 Darren Sammy 30220 Lendl Simmons 30170 V Permaul 410310