West Indies all-rounder Kieron Pollard blasted 10 sixes, but his power-packed maiden century was not enough to avert a 34-run defeat against India in the fifth and final one-day international on Sunday.
Pollard’s (119) blistering 110-ball knock took his team close to the 268-run victory target, but apart from Andre Russell (53), none of his batting colleagues could offer much support as the West Indies folded for 233 in 44.1 overs.
With only No. 11 batsman Anthony Martin for company and 35 runs still required off the last six overs, Pollard tried to hit Suresh Raina for his 11th six, but he found Ajinkya Rahane in the deep.
India won the five-match series 4-1.
The West Indies had lost opener Lendl Simmons to the first ball of their innings and they slumped to 78 for five, before an 89-run stand between Pollard and Russell brought them back into the match.
Pollard tried to hit his way out of trouble, but wickets continued to tumble around him. He was fortunate to get his maiden century which came when Virat Kohli dropped him for a four in the 43rd over.
Earlier, Manoj Tiwary (104) struck his maiden century, before retiring hurt with cramps, while Kohli (80) became the highest one-day international run-getter this year as India posted a challenging 267 for six on the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium’s low and slow track.
Gautam Gambhir, leading in absence of Virender Sehwag, won the toss and opted to bat first, but the hosts were rattled early, losing two wickets in the first three deliveries.
Kemar Roach’s second delivery kept low and hit Rahane’s pad and then No. 3 Parthiv Patel dragged the next delivery on to his stumps to become the second India batsman out for a golden duck.
Tiwary, playing his first match of the series, not only denied Roach a hat-trick, but he also decided to make the most of the opportunity that came his way.
The right-handed batsman added 83 runs with Gambhir (31) to steady the innings and shared a more fluent 117-run partnership with Kohli to lay the foundations for a big total.
Tallon Griekspoor on Friday stunned top seed Alexander Zverev 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/4) in the second round at Indian Wells, avenging a devastating loss to the German at Roland Garros last year. Zverev, the world No. 2 who is heading the field of the prestigious ATP Masters event with No. 1 Jannik Sinner serving a three-month drugs ban, is the first Indian Wells men’s top seed to lose his opening match since Andy Murray in 2017. It was a cherished win for Griekspoor, who had lost five straight matches — including four last year — to the German. That included a five-setter
Five-time champion Novak Djokovic on Saturday tumbled out of the Indian Wells ATP Masters, falling in his first match to lucky loser Botic van de Zandschulp as two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz advanced. “No excuses for a poor performance,” 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic said after 37 unforced errors in a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 defeat. “It doesn’t feel great when you play this way on the court,” he said. “But congratulations to my opponent — just a bad day in the office, I guess, for me.” Djokovic is just the latest in Van de Zandschulp’s string of superstar victims. He
Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday held their nerve to beat Liverpool 4-1 on penalties and reach the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals after their tie finished one-apiece on aggregate, while Bayern Munich saw off Bayer 04 Leverkusen to complete a 5-0 win over both legs. Lamine Yamal and Raphinha fired Barcelona into the next round as the Catalans bested SL Benfica 3-1, and Inter booked a last-eight meeting with Bayern by seeing off Feyenoord 2-1. At Anfield, Ousmane Dembele netted the only goal of the night as PSG bounced back from Liverpool’s late winner last week to force the tie to extra-time and penalties. Maligned
The Taoyuan Pauian Pilots last night lost their East Asia Super League (EASL) championship game against Japan’s Hiroshima Dragonflies 72-68. They on Friday secured Taiwan’s first-ever spot in an EASL final with a 71-64 comeback victory over Japan’s Ryukyu Golden Kings. In what the EASL official Web site described as an “upset,” Pilots forward Lu Chun-hsiang on Friday asserted his stardom in Macau by scoring a game-high 24 points, with four players in both teams reaching double figures. The win was also the first time a Taiwanese franchise has defeated a Japanese team in the EASL Final Four. “I was moved
RSS