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West Indies defeat India in third ODI

India's Sachin Tendulkar, background, watches as the West Indies' Marlon Samuels, left, dives to the ground as India wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik, right, dives to stop the ball during a match at the Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, India, on Saturday. PHOTO: AFP

Marlon Samuels hit 98 off 95 balls and captain Brian Lara made 83 as the West Indies came back strongly to defeat India by three wickets in the third one-dayer in Chennai on Saturday.

The tourists overcame a rollicking start by the hosts to bowl India out for 268 and then surpassed the challenging target in the 44th over under lights at the Chidambaram stadium.

Samuels and Lara put on a match-winning stand of 127 for the fourth wicket after opener Chris Gayle had fallen leg-before to Ajit Agarkar off the first ball of the innings.

Agarkar, who had Samuels caught behind two runs short of his third one-day century, finished with 3-45 and the West Indies lost three wickets for eight runs at the end before recording their first win in the four-match series.

Lara's men now travel to Vadodara for Wednesday's final match, hoping to draw their last series 2-2 before the Caribbean nations host the World Cup in March-April.

"That will be a big game for us, our last before the World Cup, and we will go out there fighting," Lara said. "We have lost badly in the past but today we showed we can win well too. It was a commanding win, especially while bowling."

India's total revolved around a robust 70 off 42 balls from young opener Robin Uthappa and half-centuries from captain Rahul Dravid (57) and senior pro Sachin Tendulkar (60).

India, sent in to bat by Lara, were cruising at 232-3 in the 35th over when the tourists bounced back with seven wickets for 36 runs.

Seamer Dwayne Bravo, hammered for 19 runs by Uthappa in his first over, grabbed four wickets for 20 runs in his next eight to lead the West Indian revival.

Uthappa, a 21-year-old playing only his fourth one-dayer, enhanced his World Cup claims.
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