PORT OF SPAIN (Trinidad), 26 May, 2006: The West Indies humbled India by six wickets in the fourth one-day international to clinch the series 3-1 on Friday.

Captain Brian Lara’s half century was the key as Windies raced to victory with 6 overs to spare after restricting India to a mere 217 for the loss of 7 wickets.

Skipper Lara mixed poise with cautious aggression to rescue Windies from a slight run rate slump as he scored an elegant 69 of 97 balls . Lara’s innings included eight hits to the fence and one over it. Bravo gave company to his skipper with a career-best 61, after Windies scented danger, struggling at 91-3 in the 23rd over.

For the Indian batsmen, the script was the same as the previous matches as they struggled to wean their way in a slow track at the Queen's Park Oval. The accurate Windies attack made matters worse for them. They were never able to recover after they lost 3 wickets quickly.

Only after that did the Indians showed some promise as the in-form Yuvraj, 52, and Kaif, 62, put up some resistance for Dhoni to show some flourish late in the innings. If not for Dhoni’s belligerent knock of 46, India would have fallen below the 200-mark.

Kaif and Yuvraj had an 80-run stand in 98 balls for the fourth wicket.

West Indian opening bowlers Ian Bradshaw (2 for 41) and Fidel Edwards (1 for 19) as well as spinners Marlon Samuels and Chris Gayle bowled with purpose to curb the flow of runs. In fact, the Indians managed to score only 81 runs in the last 15 overs.

India brought in Yuvraj Singh in the place of Venugopala Rao while West Indies brought in Wavell Hinds, Correy Collymore and Dwayne Smith in place of Renuko Morton, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Jerome Taylor.

Scoreboard

India
Virender Sehwag c Gayle b Bradshaw 11
Rahul Dravid c Sarwan b Collymore 15
Suresh Raina c Sarwan b Bradshaw 7
Yuvraj Singh c Baugh b Edwards 52
Mohammad Kaif b Bravo 62
Mahendra Dhoni not out 46
Irfan Pathan c Collymore b Bravo 8
Ajit Agarkar b Bravo 0
Ramesh Powar not out 0

Extras: (5lb, 9w, 2nb) 16Total: (for seven wickets) 217Overs: 50.Fall of wickets: 1 13, 2 28, 3 47, 4 127, 5 188, 6 206, 7 206.Did not bat: Harbhajan Singh, S Sreesanth.

Bowling: Fidel Edwards 8 1 19 1 Ian Bradshaw 10 0 41 2 Corey Collymore 9 2 49 1 Dwayne Bravo 5 0 32 3 Chris Gayle 6 0 28 0Marlon Samuels 10 1 37 0Dwayne Smith 2 0 6 0

West Indies
Chris Gayle c Agarkar b Powar 46
Marlon Samuels lbw b Pathan 9
Ramnaresh Sarwan c Sehwag b Agarkar 6
Brian Lara c Raina b Powar 69
Dwayne Bravo not out 61
Wavell Hinds not out 13
Extras: (5lb, 8w, 1nb) 14
Total: (for four wickets) 218
Fall of wickets: 28 1, 49 2, 91 3, 182 4.
Did not bat: Dwayne Smith, Carlton Baugh Jr., IanBradshaw, Fidel Edwards, Corey Collymore.
Bowling: Irfan Pathan 5 0 32 1 Shanthakumaran Sreesanth 9 1 39 0 Ajit Agarkar 8 1 24 1 Harbhajan Singh 10 1 42 0 Ramesh Powar 9 0 56 2 Yuvraj Singh 2 0 10 0Suresh Raina 1 0 10 0

Umpires: Billy Doctrove, West Indies, and Simon Taufel,Australia.

Match referee: Chris Broad, England.

Result: West Indies (takes winning 3 1 lead in series).

Man of the Match: Dwayne Bravo.

Toss: West Indies.