India's inexperience was brutally exposed by the big hitters in the West Indies side as the hosts recorded another morale-boosting win in the fifth and final one-day international in Jamaica.

West Indies were 119 for two after 32 overs in their pursuit of 252 after being strangled by India's canny bowling performance in the first half of the innings, but turned the tables on their visitors to win by seven wickets with eight balls remaining.

India crumbled under the pressure, shambolic in the field both in the catching and throwing departments and increasingly nervous with their bowling, while Suresh Raina's deeply unimpressive captaincy failed to bring the situation under control as he dithered in his field placements and argued with some of his bowlers.

In front of a delighted Chris Gayle, who remains out in the cold after an unsuccessful meeting with the West Indies Cricket Board and who now sports an enormous afro, Marlon Samuels and Kieron Pollard saw West Indies home after Darren Bravo and Ramnaresh Sarwan had set the game up.

The 103-run partnership between Bravo and Sarwan was steady but entirely unspectacular at first, and appeared to be batting the islanders into a hole as the overs ticked by.

However the 33rd over marked a change in attitude as Raina was taken for 12 runs in an over and Ishant Sharma went for ten in the following one. Although Sarwan was forced to retire with cramp on 75 with 12 overs remaining and 96 runs required, Bravo took up the cause with relish and unleashed severe punishment on the previously untouchable spinners Amit Mishra and Ravichandran Ashwin.

He carried that lustre into the batting powerplay, which yielded 57 runs as India fell to pieces. Bravo fell short of a hundred when he misread Mishra's googly and was stumped, but by that stage the asking rate was down to a manageable level and Samuels (28) and Pollard (24) took the game home to spark wild celebrations.

In a clear sign of his feelings on the WICB vs Gayle affair, Samuels immediately ran to the stands to celebrate with his former captain after Pollard had hit the winning runs.

Having romped through the first three games of the series, India have now lost the last two and, Virat Kohli aside, the younger generation have been guilty of complacency in those games.

Kohli hit a magnificent 94 after India had been asked to bat on a pitch which had its fair share of life, but his run out sparked a horrendous collapse which saw India lose their last seven wickets for 62 runs in under 12 overs, and leave 15 deliveries unused.

Although Kohli's dismissal so close to a century was regrettable, Suresh Raina deserved more of the blame for India's slump. Three dot balls were all it took to ruffle the skipper, who sliced his fourth delivery out to deep cover. The wickets never stopped falling after that.

Openers Shikhar Dhawan and Parthiv Patel had never looked comfortable before they were found out by short deliveries from Kemar Roach and Andre Russell respectively, and Manoj Tiwary was guilty of throwing away a promising start when he opened the face to Kieron Pollard but edged behind.

Kohli recognised the danger inherent in the pitch and judged his strokeplay perfectly as he led the fightback, nudging the good balls for one and using his feet to unsettle the bowlers whenever he could in a 110-run partnership with man of the series Rohit Sharma.

However a misjudged second run found Kohli short of his ground just when he seemed certain to register the first century of the series. After Raina had thrown his wicket away cheaply Sharma (57) built a quick partnership with Yusuf Pathan (30), but then got carried away in the first over of the batting powerplay when an attempted heave saw him bowled by Anthony Martin.

Russell got stuck in from there on, having Pathan caught behind and Amit Mishra bowled in the same over. The wicket of Ishant Sharma in his next over gave him a fourth victim, and left India with a par score when something much more impressive had looked on the cards.

Tristan Holme