Ahmedabad, India — Ravi Rampaul produced a superb bowling performance to rock the India batting line-up as West Indies won the third One-Day International by 16 runs to secure their first win on this tour and keep the five-match ODI Series alive.
The right-arm pacer took 4-57 off 8.5 overs — his fourth haul of four or more wickets in ODIs this year. The home side fell for 244 in reply to West Indies’ 260-5 off 50 overs at the Sardar Patel Stadium on Monday night.
The highlight of the Windies innings was some superb power-hitting from skipper Darren Sammy with 41 not out off 17 balls and Andre Russell who hit 40 not out off 18 balls as a whopping 79 runs were scored from the last 34 balls of the innings.
In the second half of the match Rampaul took two big wickets with his first two deliveries — captain Virender Sehwag caught behind and left-hander Gautam Gambhir trapped leg-before offering no stroke. Rampaul returned later in the night to have Suresh Raina caught behind and ended the match when he hit Abhimanyu Mithun in front to win a leg-before verdict.
Speaking after his heroics the 27-year-old Rampaul said the key factor was the early wickets, which put pressure on the Indian batting line-up.
“I would say getting those early breakthroughs proved to be the key point in the match when we bowled. We got up to a good score thanks to some great batting from Sammy and Russell but we still had a big job to do with the ball. I am used to bowling on these slow, low wickets as they are similar to what I play on in Trinidad. Also, the experience of playing here (in India) for Trinidad and Tobago in the Champions League as well as in the World Cup has helped me a lot,” said Rampaul, who won the Man-of-the-Match award.
“Early wickets were the key. My strategy was to bowl wicket to wicket and it was good that I got the ball to swing as well. We wanted to have a go at the Indian middle order early. Finally we have a win on the tour and it means a lot to us as a team. We came close on quite a few occasions and tonight we got the reward. We will look for more in the coming matches.”
So far this year Rampaul has made 14 ODI appearances and has 28 wickets at an average of 19.1 each and a strike rate of 24. Monday’s effort followed up the record-breaking 86 not out off 66 balls he made last week in the second ODI.
Rampaul was also full of praise for 23-year-old spinner Sunil Narine who was excellent in his first international match. He ended with two wickets for 34 off his full quota of 10 overs while bowling in the PowerPlay overs.
“He came in and did a very good job for the team. It was a great way to start your international career. He bowled early and got a key wicket and came back at the end, there, to pick up another vital wicket for us. He kept building the pressure on the Indian batsmen and it paid off for us,” Rampaul said.
The West Indies victory means they trail India 1-2, with two matches to be played. All three matches in the series so far have been close. India won the first match in Barabati Stadium in Cuttack by one wicket and were made to work hard for their five-wicket win in the second match at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam.
The two teams will travel to Indore on Tuesday where they will play the fourth match at the Holkar Cricket Stadium on Thursday. The final match will be in played at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Sunday.
west indies always cum 2 da party wen da dj is already gone but dey finally came 2 da party early!!!
Way to go Windies! England were white-washed by the Indians before the Windies arrived. Although we showed a few bright sparks in the Test series and got nothing but somehow i knew that the boys would come good. Hope we can dish out the same in the next two games and wrap up the series. Rampaul is a star with both bat and ball. Future looks good for West Indies cricket.
I have been a hard wi support for the last 28 years i have never given up on the team never, and i gave me great pleasure to see the fight that the guys put out yesterday. that was amazing, i must commend the captain and the staff of the west indies for they saw the many mistakes that was made in the first two games the had the indies by their neck and let them go. i also must give the MOM the must Praise for the way he conducted himself during the odi, i believe that if they would just be a little more consistant them wi will be in the top five very soon. i have always said to suppports of the wi the boys need must of the support when they are going down. i like the way thay bated yesterday i have said once you stay in the wicket the bad balls will come, and you could see that they played with a fighting sprit yesterday.Boys keep fighting for the whhoole of the wi nation is supporting you Rally Rally round the wi now and fo rever.
Yea!!!Good going guys.
Congratulations West Indies. Let the fighting spirit of genuine black consciousness and pan-Caribbean dignity and pride that drove Viv Richards, Malcolm Marshall, Michael Holding, Joel Garner, Desmond Haynes, Gordon Greenidge, Andy Roberts, et al at the height of racism in England, New Zeeland and Australia run through your veins.
I hope each team member and indeed every West Indian will view and internalize the DVD “Fire in Babylon”. Let us again “bring the World to its knees and our West Indian Nation to its feet”.
Peace Brothers and Sisters!
thats the spirit west indies need to hve a winning spirit congrats W.I DO IT FOR THE WEST INDIES FULL SUPPORT FROM US
I like the spirit of all the players…They give their hearts out, and this is what we have been asking of them…GO LEVEL THE SERIES NEXT MATCH..! I AM RALLYING WITH THE WEST INDIES. Well done Rampaul! Well done the entire team!
Great win West Indies. A pity the team lost the two previous games as they were in very good positions to win them. The series should now have been 3-0 in favour of the Windies. Well guys go all out to win the remaining two games and hence win the series.
Rally y’all!!