BASSETERRE, May 24: Brian Lara paid tribute to match-winners Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul after the West Indies won the third One-day International against India on Tuesday.

The West Indies won by four wickets with a ball to spare to take a 2-1 lead in the five-match series. India scored 245 for nine, to which the West Indies replied with 248 for six in 49.5 overs.

Sarwan scored a career-best 115 not out in his 100th One-day International. Chanderpaul scored 58, and shared a stand of 106 for the fifth wicket with Sarwan.

Chanderpaul overcame a suspected hamstring injury to continue his innings with the help of a runner, Marlon Samuels.

“We depended a lot on Sarwan for a tremendous innings, and on Chanderpaul,” Lara told reporters.

“He (Chanderpaul) was injured, and for him to see it through almost to the end was a special effort.”

Lara said Sarwan, 25, was becoming a key batsman for the West Indies.

“We all know he's a great little player, and we just want to see more consistency from him,” Lara said.

Opener Virender Sehwag scored a whirlwind 97 off 83 balls to put India on course for a total over 300.

But Sehwag's dismissal in the 29th over was the first salvo in a fightback that saw the West Indies take seven wickets for 69 runs in 21 overs.

“At one stage when India were batting, it looked like they would definitely score 300,” Lara said.

“To pull them back to 245 for nine is an excellent effort.”

The latter part of India's innings was uppermost in the mind of their captain, Rahul Dravid.

“The last 15 overs of our innings really cost us the game, we played really poorly in that period,” Dravid told reporters.

The series concludes with matches in Trinidad on Friday and Sunday, and Dravid said his men were up for the challenge of rallying to win the rubber.

“It was another close game that went down to the final over, and it was disappointing that we ended up on the losing side again,” Dravid said.

“All three games have been close, and we feel we haven't played anywhere near our potential in any of the three games.

“It's going to be a tough ask to win the next two, but we believe we can do it.”—Reuters