India clinched the three-match ODI series against West Indies 2-1 after winning a nerve-wracking encounter at Cuttack by 4 wickets.
Chasing 316 to win, India suffered a mini-collapse in the latter part of the second innings before useful knocks from Shardul Thakur (17*) and Ravindra Jadeja (39*) ensured they got home with 9 balls to spare.
India started the chase well as openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul put together a 122-run stand for the first wicket to give India the ideal platform to get the win in the third and final ODI of the series.
Rohit (63) and Rahul (77) scored freely as the West Indies bowlers looked at sea on a pitch that was good to bat on.
Jason Holder finally got the breakthrough when he got Rohit to edge one behind the stumps to Shai Hope in the 22nd over. Rahul followed suit in similar fashion in the 30th over, with Alzarri Josesph getting the breakthrough this time around.
However, the visitors found a way back into the game as Shreyas Iyer (7), Rishabh Pant (7) and Kedar Jadhav (9) all fell cheaply.
Virat Kohli though thrives in such situations and the skipper duly played a vital knock, bringing up his 55th ODI half-century to steady the ship.
He looked likely to get a century and take the game home but chopped a Keemo Paul delivery onto his stumps in the 47th over and the game was wide open once again.
Thakur would start his innings with a boundary and would slam another four and six in the next over off Sheldon Cottrell to all but finish the match.
Jadeja hit a boundary in the next over and with India needing just a run to win, the two batsmen went for a quick single that they completed despite a run-out appeal.
The match was already over by that point, however, as the third umpire detected a front-foot no-ball from Paul.
Earlier, Nicholas Pooran and Kieron Pollard hit attacking half-centuries to power the West Indies to 315-5 after being sent in to bat first.
Pooran, who hit 89 off 63 balls, and Pollard (74*), put on 135 runs for the fifth wicket as the West Indies put up a challenging total after being in trouble at 144-4.
The left-right batting pair of Pooran and Pollard, who hit three fours and seven sixes in his 51-ball blitz, combined to rebuild the innings and then took the attack to the opposition bowlers.
India paceman Navdeep Saini claimed two wickets after being handed his ODI debut. The 27-year-old Saini got his maiden ODI wicket after sending the dangerous Shimron Hetmyer back to the pavilion for 37.
Hetmyer’s wicket ended a 62-run third-wicket stand with Roston Chase who was bowled by a toe-crushing yorker from Saini for 38 to hurt the West Indies.
But Pooran counter attacked and completed his second successive fifty with a six off left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav, who went wicketless after coming into the game with 99 scalps.
He hit 10 fours and three sixes in his knock that lasted 64 balls before falling to Shardul Thakur with a mistimed hit to deep point.
Pollard hit two successive boundaries to raise his fifty and pulverised the bowling in the final few overs as West Indies managed 77 runs from the last 30 deliveries.
Openers Evin Lewis (21) and Shai Hope (42) put on 57 runs with some sedate batting that lay the foundations for West Indies total.
Pant had a night to forget behind the stumps, dropping three catches to give Chase (on nought), Hetmyer (on nine) and Pooran (on 52) extended stays at the wicket.
(With agency inputs)
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