4th ODI: India restrict West Indies to low total

Pacers Umesh Yadav and Hardik Pandya picked up three wickets each as India restricted the West Indies to 189/9 in the fourth One-Day International (ODI) at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium here on Sunday.

Umesh had figures of 3/36 while Pandya returned 3/40 as the Indian bowlers maintained a tight leash on the scoring rate right from the start.

Pacer Mohammed Shami, who replaced the in-form Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the playing XI, justified his selection with extremely economical bowling, conceeding just 33 runs in his 10 overs.

Openers Evin Lewis and Kyle Hope gave the hosts a slow but steady start with identical scores of 35.

With the runs coming in trickles, the West Indies innings was extremely slow and when Pandya dismissed Hope in the 18th over to break up the opening partnership of 57 runs, it sort of woke up the sparse crowd.

Hope hit four boundaries during his 63-ball stay at the crease.

Lewis then tried to shore up the run rate with some big shots before Indian skipper Virat Kohli pulled off an excellent catch at mid-wicket off Kuldeep Yadav's bowling to send him on his way.

Shai Hope and Roston Chase tried to bring the West Indies back on track, adding 41 runs between them off 57 balls.

However, that was the only bit of resistance that the hosts could manage. Kuldeep brought the partnership to an end with a tossed up delivery that hit the stumps after Chase completely missed the line.

The wickets fell at regular intervals thereafter as the Indians tightened their grip on the proceedings.

Brief scores:

West Indies: 189/9 in 50 overs (Evin Lewis 35, Kyle Hope 35; Umesh Yadav 3/36, Hardik Pandya 3/40) vs India.

--IANS

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