India Vs WI : Spirited India clinch series.

Rohit Sharma embodied India's undying spirit with a calm 86 under pressure to help India attain an unassailable lead.

Andre Russel was the only worthy performer, scoring 92* off just 64 deliveries, in another Windies’ collapse.

Expectedly or not, the old diseases have come back to haunt again. The all too familiar collapse and the sheer inability to wrap up the tail after you have the opposition right on the mat. For the first time in this tour and much to the relief of the host team, the matches swim across to Antigua from the “Indian” Trinidad, or that’s how the hosts would want to refer to and why not. Rank turners, massive crowd support (if any) and 3 games into the tour unbeaten and this is not what a host nation would expect, leave alone wanting it, save for the groundsmen.

Coming into Antigua, one expected the surface not to turn but not too much was understood about the nature of the pitch which made India decide to bowl first and test the opposition. The West Indies got off to the worst possible start losing Edwards with the score at blob following which some controlled batting took them to a respectable 65/1 till the tornado struck again just before the end of the power plays. A lazy run out, a stumping followed by a turning delivery disturbing the furniture and suddenly 74/4 and familiar picture loomed. Amit Mishra was once again the wrecker-in-chief and the West Indies seemed jinxed to him. The next 10 overs only had a sad story getting sadder till the tipping point was reached with the dismissal of Sammy at 96/7 and West Indies were well and truly on the mat and lunch hovered on the horizon for the Indian team but Andre Russel and Carlton Baugh had other ideas. With Mishra’s overs running out in attack mode, Russel in the company of supporting star cast Baugh laid the foundation meticulously till a thundering blast at the end by Russel and with just another wicket lost, the West Indies unfamiliarly recovered to a fighting 225 and a young man with a fantastically paced 92 (not out) off just 64 balls, announced himself on the big stage. Mishra once again proving to be the pick of the bowling lot and once again was an insipid performance (not economically but in terms of wickets) by Harbhajan on a turner against an ordinary line up.

India were expected to overhaul the target with ease and given West Indies perennial largesse this tour,the result was a foregone conclusion unless otherwise an equally pugnacious and accomplished performance by the bowlers. With Roach and Bishoo having 20 overs to themselves, a contest was anticipated though not by many. Dhawan’s poor run continued and a lazy drive away from the body, when on 4 off 15, should spoon his place in the reserve bench for now. Virat Kohli followed next ball, as if to immediately advise Dhawan, caught in front off Sammy, who now with 2 off 2 suddenly had the sparse crowd bringing life into the match.

What followed next, was an eerily similar pattern of the West Indies innings being inseminated with a run out starting the slide coupled with some poor shot selection soon had the World Champions in tatters at 96/6.Some highly calculative and sensible batting by Rohit Sharma in the company of Harbhajan, making up for his bowling, only made us wonder why the top order batsmen couldn’t apply themselves on such a track, particularly the likes of Yusuf Pathan who for once had sufficient time and overs in his side to settle and harbour India to safety instead of going for the reckless shot.

Some poor bowling, the continued largesse of the Windies fused with some superb batting by Sharma mixed with Bhajji ways and Praveen Kumar’s end credit lusty blows, took away the match from the West Indies and in the process clinched India the series.It was Rohit Sharma’s best international innings and given that he was in a pressure situation, he has come out in flying colours thus cementing his place in the team for now. Harbhajan seems to thrive on his batting more often than not, considering that his bowling clicks only when his batting doesn’t and with Ashwin breathing down the neck for the off spinner’s spot, this looks like his armour for the time being.

It was the closest match in the series with some inspired performances by one youngster announcing himself on the big stage and another establishing the promise he had shown on the tour to Australia 3 years ago.It also highlighted the inability of the bowling attacks to shut out matches and Roach, at the end of the innings, was spraying as if paying a tribute to Harmisson (remember the first ball of the Ashes 2006-07!, if not check it in youtube). An under par performance by both teams made it a thrill to watch and with Chris Gayle not taking the field due to miscommunication in the age of twitter, only goes on to show the attitude of the authorities in the higher echelons of the Windies board, which seems to affect the team and the sport badly in this part of the world.

India is undoubtedly enjoying one of the best summers it has ever had. For a second string team to travel away from home and clinch a series outright in the minimum number of matches, further establishes the undying spirit within the team along with the tag of being “WORLD CHAMPIONS”.