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India’s dream run towards the 2007 world cup was shattered in a quite humiliating fashion when the West Indies swept the One Day series 4-1 after winning the final match here Sunday.

The 19-run defeat in the Caribbean has put the Indian performance in the recent past in perspective with a much-hyped Indian side coming cropper against a side that till the other day had ’seemed to have forgotten how to win’.

With the men in blue not able to garner even a consolation win, Guru Greg Chappell’s boys, belying their reputation of being one of the best One-Day teams, have lots to ponder over before the Test series in June - an arena where they have thankfully not gained any false confidence.

Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the day for the sub-continental players was the pathetic display on field, thanks to demoralizing loss of series.

Despite winning the toss and electing to field, the Indians could not penetrate the West Indian batting line, even as mis-fields and dropped catches were galore.

This was evident from the fact that the best balling figures belonged to Ajit Agarkar with two for 44. In fact Virendra Sehwag did better than most full time bowlers with figures of just 29 in 10 overs.

Even while Ramnaresh Sarwan’s upbeat form continued into the final match here, it was man of the match, D.J. Bravo who lived upto his surname with an unbeaten 62 - with 10 twos and four 4s from 44 balls.

Bravo’s innings helped his team put on a decent total in the final stages of the West Indian innings while Sarwan (52), Chris Gayle (51), Captain Brian Lara (36) and Wavell Hinds (32) played important roles.

Except for the valiant innings of opener Virendra Sehwag, something unusual nowadays, there was nothing much to talk about the Indian chase of the West Indian score of 256.

New comer Robin Uthappa (2) failed to get started while veterans Rahul Dravid (18), Yuvraj Singh (26) and Mohammed Kaif (12) seemed to be sleepwalking through their innings.

Credit of course goes to the duo of Jerome Taylor and Dave Mohammed who bound the Indians by plucking three wickets each.

With the Indian middle order collapsing again, there was very little the tail could do but try - in vain.

The match, on the lines of the series, was lost long back when Sehwag left the ground on 95 after trying hard to make some meat out of the middle and lower order batsmen.

The happiest man of the day was perhaps The West Indian captain Brian Lara, who proved what could be done with a team as representative of underdogs as his even when the world number three team is the opponent.

The southpaw could not have asked for a better parting gift from his team after playing what could be his last match at his home town and moreover at his favourite Queen’s Park Oval ground.

SCOREBOARD

India in West Indies ODI Series - 5th ODI

West Indies

C.H. Gayle b Sehwag 51

S. Chattergoon b Agarkar 0

R.R. Sarwan b Sreesanth 52

B.C. Lara run out (Agarkar/Dhoni) 36

D.J. Bravo not out 62

W.W. Hinds c Sehwag b Agarkar 32

D.R. Smith b Patel 1

D. Ramdin not out 1

Did not bat D. Mohammed, J.E. Taylor, C.D. Collymore

Extras 20

Total (6 wickets; 50 overs) 255

Fall of wickets1-8 (Chattergoon, 1.1 ov), 2-90 (Gayle, 19.4 ov), 3-137 (Sarwan, 34.1 ov), 4-165 (Lara, 38.1 ov), 5-243 (Hinds, 48.3 ov), 6-251 (Smith, 49.3 ov)

Bowling

S. Sreesanth 10 0 62 1 (2w)

A.B. Agarkar 10 1 44 2 (4w)

M.M. Patel 10 0 64 1 (3nb, 2w)

Harbhajan S. 10 0 52 0 (1w)

V. Sehwag 10 0 29 1 (4w)

India

AR Uthappa c Ramdin b Hinds 0

V Sehwag c Gayle b Taylor 95

MS Dhoni b Hinds 14

R Dravid run out (Mohammed) 18

Yuvraj Singh b Mohammed 26

M Kaif c Gayle b Taylor 12

SK Raina c Ramdin b Taylor 2

AB Agarkar c Smith b Gayle 21

Harbhajan Singh c sub b Mohammed 26

MM Patel c Chattergoon b Mohammed 0

S Sreesanth not out 1

Extras (lb 4, w 14, nb 2) 20

Total (10 wickets; 48 overs) 236

Fall of wickets1-0 (Uthappa, 0.3 ov), 2-26 (Dhoni, 6.1 ov), 3-73 (Dravid, 12.5 ov), 4-130 (Yuvraj Singh, 22.6 ov), 5-170 (Kaif, 31.2 ov), 6-180 (Raina, 35.3 ov), 7-189 (Sehwag, 37.2 ov), 8-230 (Harbhajan Singh, 46.3 ov), 9-231 (Patel, 46.5 ov), 10-236 (Agarkar, 47.6 ov)

Bowling

W.W. Hinds 5 0 28 2 (2w)

J.E. Taylor 10 0 48 3 (2nb, 4w)

D. Mohammed 9 1 39 3 (1w)

D.R. Smith 5 0 28 0

D.J. Bravo 9 0 45 0 (3w)

C.H. Gayle 10 0 44 1 (2w)

Toss: India, chose to field first

Result: West Indies won by 19 runs

Player of the match: D.J. Bravo (West Indies)

Player of the series: R.R. Sarwan (West Indies)

Umpires: S.A. Bucknor and S.J.A. Taufel (Australia)

TV umpire: B.R. Doctrove

Match referee: B.C. Broad (England)

Reserve umpire: T. Birbal

Source:India Sports