India beat West Indies by 6 Wickets (D/L Method) in Rain Interrupted ODI

St. Lucia: India won a cliffhanger against West Indies in the rain-interrupted third ODI at St. Lucia to take a 2-1 lead in the series with one more match to go. The match was delayed by rain and after several interruptions, it was reduced to 27 overs a side. Skipper MS Dhoni batted till the end and made sure that India does not squander the advantage it had in the match from the very beginning.

India won the toss and elected to field first. The match was reduced to 27 overs because of rain. The Indian bowlers bowled superbly to keep West Indies run rate under control. However, there were some fine batting in the middle and towards the end and West Indies put up 186/7 in 27 overs.

Ramnaresh Sarwan was the top scorer with 62, while Chris Gayle scored 27. Runako Morton and Darren Bravo contributed 22 and 21 respectively. For India, Ashish Nehra took 3 wickets, while Harbhajan Singh took 2 wickets. Although West Indies scored 186, India required 195 from the same overs to win the match under D/L method.

India started very well, while chasing a victory target of 195 from 27 overs. Openers Karthik and Gambhir added 84 runs for the first wicket in 12.1 overs. The match was later reduced to 22 overs and India needed 159 runs to win the match.

Although there was a scare after the departure of Gambhir, Karthik and then the early departure of Yuvraj and Rohit Sharma, Dhoni, who promoted himself to No. 3, batted till end and saw his team through with one ball to spare. India needed 11 runs from the last over. Dhoni's brilliant six off the second ball in that over, sealed the match in India's favour.

India reached 159/4 in 21.5 overs. Karthik made 47, while Gambhir scored 44. Dhoni remained unbeaten on 46 off 34 balls. Dhoni was declared "Man of the Match".

With this victory, India now leads the four-match series 2-1. The fourth and final ODI will be held in St. Lucia on Sunday. If India win that match and series, it will be their third straight ODI series victory this year. They have already won the ODI series against Sri Lanka and New Zealand.