By Anand Philar, IANS,
Chennai: Manoj Tiwary’s maiden One-day century aided India’s recovery from a disastrous start when they lost two wickets in the very first over as the hosts piled up 267 for six against the West Indies in the fifth and concluding ODI, here Sunday.
Kemar Roach dismissed opener Ajinkya Rahane and Parthiv Patel with his second and third deliveries, but then Tiwary (104, 125b, 10×4, 1×6), skipper Gautam Gambhir (31) and Virat Kohli (80) took India to relative safety.
Tiwary and skipper Gambhir (31) put on 83 runs for the second wicket before the Bengal batsman, playing in just his sixth ODI game since debut four seasons ago, along with in-form Kohli added a further 117 runs in 18.5 overs.
Soon after getting to the three-figure mark, the 26-year old Tiwary retired due to cramps, but by then, he had showcased his obvious talent and potential that seemed to have taken ever so long to translate into a big score.
The low bounce caught out both Rahane, who failed to score in his second consecutive international innings, and Patel. Roach trapped Rahane plumb in front while Patel was castled by a ball that kept low. However, Tiwary denied Roach a hat-trick.
Thereafter, it was all sunshine for the Indian innings as Tiwary and Gambhir, batting with understandable caution, steadied the innings. However, even as the partnership was growing in stature, Gambhir departed trapped in front off leg-spinner Anthony Martin.
The dismissal brought Kohli and Tiwary together. Both easily dealt with the Windies attack that seemed more focused on restriction rather than aggression.
Tiwary, on settling down, began to play some fine shots, unafraid to lift the ball over the in-field. His top shot was no doubt the inside-out six off off-spinner Sunil Narine when in the nineties and a while later, the Bengal batsman tucked the spinner to the fine-leg fence to complete a century.
Kohli played in typical fashion and proved an excellent foil to the more aggressive Tiwary. The pair prospered and gradually stepped up the pace even as the Windies bowlers wilted under pressure.
By the time Kohli departed, lofting Martin to Marlon Samuels in the 46th over, India were coasting along to a sizeable total. Rohit Sharma (21) also left and the Windies gained some consolation when Narine sent down the innings’ only maiden over, the 49th, to Irfan Pathan who was run out off the last ball of the 50th.
Roach, after the early strikes, proved rather expensive, conceding 30 runs in his first spell of five while the other bowlers barely made an impression on a pitch that demanded some caution but otherwise held no terrors.
The afternoon began with Gambhir, standing in for Virender Sehwag, winning the toss with India including Tiwary, Rahane and seamer Abhimanyu while resting Ravichandran Ashwin and seamer Vinay Kumar.