Dhoni Leads India To Crucial St. Lucia Victory

Dhoni Leads India To Crucial St. Lucia Victory

Mahendra Singh Dhoni (left) and Gautam Gambhir both scored heavily as India won in St. Lucia.

©Action Images / Steven Paston

India 159-4 (Karthik 47, Dhoni 46no) beat
West Indies 186-7 (Sarwan 62, Nehra 3-21) by six wickets (D/L)
Scorecard | Cricket World® TV Analysis
Third One-Day International, St. Lucia

An unbeaten 46 which included a big final-over six from Mahendra Singh Dhoni guided India to a six-wicket Duckworth/Lewis method win over the West Indies in St. Lucia that handed them an unassailable 2-1 series lead.

Dhoni hit Jerome Taylor over midwicket as he and Yusuf Pathan scored the requisite 11 runs from the final over of a rain-reduced match with a ball to spare.

The West Indies, put in to bat by India, eventually finished a truncated innings on 186 for seven from 27 overs thanks to a polished innings of 62 from Ramnaresh Sarwan and a blazing 27 in 14 balls from opener and captain Chris Gayle at the top of the order.

Darren Bravo impressed with a swift 21 at the death as left-arm pacer Ashish Nehra bowled superbly to return three for 21, including removing both Bravo brothers in the same over, Dwayne departing for 14 to a superb one-handed Dhoni catch.

India's original target was 195 and they made a sound start, Dinesh Karthik (47) and Gautam Gambhir (44) putting on 84 for the first wicket before more rain reduced the target to 159 in 22 overs.

Dhoni promoted himself to number three and although India lost the option of using a batting Power Play, his coolness under pressure enabled them to get home.

Yuvraj Singh (2) and Rohit Sharma (11) holed out as the West Indies kept it tight, David Bernard (1-21) and Ravi Rampaul (0-26) particularly impressive, before Taylor's poor day ended with him leaking the 11 runs India needed, a rare misfield from the elder Bravo allowing an extra run during the final play as well.

The West Indies missed a number of good run out chances, especially early on, and would later pay for their lack of accuracy.

The final match takes place at the same venue on Sunday, 5th July.

© Cricket World 2009

Get the latest from Cricket World® with Facebook, twitter and YouTube.