Comeback man Mohammed Shami bagged four wickets as an under-fire India produced a disciplined bowling effort to restrict West Indies to a modest 205 for nine in the crucial fifth and final ODI of the five- match series, here on Thursday.
India, in response, were 43/1 after eight overs when reports last came in.
Opener Shikhar Dhawan who was in a purple patch coming into the series registered his third consecutive low score when he was dismissed by young pacer Alzarri Joseph for just 4 runs.
Dhawan perished in an attempt to drive the ball and horribly mistimed his stroke, thereby giving Evin lewis, fielding at short cover an easy catch to hold on to.
West Indies should have had another wicket as India captain Virat Kohli, who came in to bat at his usual No 3 position after the fall of Dhawan’s wicket, played a cut shot off the bowling of Jason Holder which he couldn’t keep down and offered an easy opportunity to the fielder at forward point who had the ball in his hand for a moment before it popped out when his hand hit the ground.
The strategy of bowling short to Kohli nearly worked again for the West Indies but having got a reprieve, Kohli settled down while Rahane continued to play in the assured manner which has brought him great success in this series.
Earlier, playing only his second ODI after a long injury lay-off, Shami picked up four wickets giving 48 runs from his 10 overs to pull West Indies back.
Besides Shami, Umesh Yadav gave him ample support from the other end and returned with impressive figures of three for 53.
For West Indies, Shai Hope top-scored with a patient 51 off 98 balls during which he hit just five boundaries, while his brother Kyle made 46 off 50 deliveries with nine fours to his credit.
Opting to bat, West Indies made a decent start before the hosts lost their first wicket in the ninth over when Evin lewis (9) was caught by India skipper Virat Kohli off the Hardik Pandya's (1/27) second delivery of the innings.
Hope brothers, Kyle and Shai then shared 37 runs off 45 balls for the second wicket before Umesh struck twin blows in consecutive balls to peg West Indies back.
Kyle, who was looking good, struck Umesh for two consecutive boundaries in the 16th over but in search of one too many he perished, picking out Shikhar Dhawan at midwicket while trying to attempt for an ambitious pull.
Umesh then had Roston Chase lBW for a duck with a full and straight delivery in the next ball. The batsman went for the review but to no avail with West Indies slumping to 76 for three by the end of the 16th over.
Shai and Jason Mohammed (16) then stitched 39 for the fourth wicket before Kedar Jadhav (1/13) struck with his golden arm, dismissing the latter with a straight forward return catch.
Young Shai held one end up and and played with caution to notch up his second half-century of the series in the 38th over.
Together with skipper Jason Holder, Shai added 48 runs for the fifth wicket to keep West Indies' innings afloat.
While Shai played with caution, Holder was aggressive from the onset and piled up his 36 runs off just 34 balls with the help of four boundaries and one six.
But an irresponsible shot led to Holder's dismissal as he was holed out to Dhawan at long-on to hand Shami his first wicket.
An over later Shami struck again when he dismissed Shai with the set batsman attempting an ambitious shot and Ajinkya Rahane did the rest by latching on to an outstanding running catch at midwicket.
Shami again struck in his next over removing Ashley Nurse, who chipped one straight to Kuldeep Yadav at short midwicket.
Shami also accounted for Devendra Bishoo, caugh by Dhoni behind the stumps.
Rovman Powell (31 off 32 balls) played a good hand towards the end to get West Indies past the 200-run mark.