3rd ODI: Rahane, Dhoni power India to a comprehensive victory

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Former India skipper MS Dhoni remained 78 not out in the third ODI against the Windies. Image Source: ICC

Internet Desk: Indian cricket team beat hosts West Indies by 93 runs in the third ODI on Saturday to take an unassailable lead of 2-0 in the five-match ODI series in Antigua.

Sent in to bat first, Ajinkya Rahane and former skipper MS Dhoni hit their respective half- centuries for the visitors as India managed to post a total of 251 at the loss of 4 wickets. At one stage the Men in Blue were on 34/2 as opener Shikhar Dhawan (2) and Virat Kohli (11) failed to score big in the third ODI. Another opener Ajinkya Rahane played a valuable knock of 72 runs off 112 deliveries to help India recover from a shaky start. Dhoni scored 78 runs off just 79 balls and remained not out. The duo shared a partnership of   70 runs off just 96 deliveries to steady the innings for the visitors. Yuvraj Singh again failed to score big as he could only manage to score 39 runs before getting out to Windies spinner Devendra Bishoo. After Yuvraj’s dismissal, Kedar Jadhav gave Dhoni an excellent support from the other end with a quick-fire unbeaten 40 runs off just 26 balls to help the visitors to cross the 250 runs mark. Pacer Miguel Cummins was the most successful among the West Indies bowlers with figures of 2/56 in his ten overs.

Chasing a challenging target of 252 runs on a slow track, the hosts could only manage to score 158 runs in 38.1 overs before getting all-out. Jason Mohammed (40) and Rovman Powell (30) were the top scorers for the Windies. For India, ace off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav shared 3 wickets each and all-rounder Hardik Pandya took two crucial wickets to take their team home.

Brief scores:

India: 251/4 in 50 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 72, Mahendra Singh Dhoni 78 not out; Miguel Cummins 2/56) beat West Indies (Jason Mohammed 40, Rovman Powell 30; Ravichandran Ashwin 3/28 ) by 93 runs