Batsmen cave in, first defeat for India in series

The first defeat as world champions came sooner than expected after the Indian batsmen failed against pace and spin to go down meekly against West Indies in the fourth ODI on Monday.

The comprehensive 103-run victory gave a massive boost to the hosts searching to infuse self-belief among their players while the manner in which India surrendered, despite having won the series 3-0, could hurt them ahead of the final ODI and first Test in Kingston, Jamaica.

West Indies pacemen Kemar Roach and Andre Russell relished a good pitch and softened up the top order batsmen, leaving Antiguan leg spinner Anthony Martin to cause the damage as Indian batsmen tried to hit their way out of trouble.

Both opener Manoj Tiwary, playing for India after three years, and Subramaniam Badrinath, who is also in the Test squad, were nervous against pace, allowing the hosts to suddenly start believing in themselves. Virat Kohli overbalanced trying to play forward to be stumped and skipper Suresh Raina went for a desperate heave to be caught at wide mid on to make the day memorable for Martin, a local cop who was picked in place of the impressive Devendra Bishoo, who was rested.

After appearing confused about his role during the World Cup, Yusuf Pathan did not stamp his authority as a batsman in the Indian Premier League as his limitations were exposed. He had a good opportunity to redeem himself but tamely hit part-timer Lendl Simmons' to the fielder at the long off fence off the second ball he faced when he could have built his innings.

Rohit Sharma top-scored and was again expected to somehow drag the team to victory as he did in the third ODI, but with only the tail for company against a team that suddenly lifted its game, his attempt to hit out against Martin failed.

"Batting was a problem and we did not put on partnerships after we got a good start," Raina told later. "Our plan was to take chances against the leg spinner but that did not work."

He said: "When you are chasing a total of 250, you need 50-run partnerships twice. In these two games, I didn't play well, Hopefully, I will in Jamaica."