Vadodra, January 31:

Sachin Tendulkar smashed his 41st limited-overs century to spur India to a 180-run victory and a 3-1 series win over the West Infies in Wednesday’s fourth and final cricket one-dayer.

Tendulkar benefited from two dropped catches during the last two overs before reaching his century off the final delivery, as India scored 341-3.

India’s bowlers then bundled out the West Indies for 181 in 41.4 overs.

India’s series win avenged its 4-1 drubbing in last year’s limited-overs series during its tour of the Caribbean islands.

Tendulkar, whose last century also came against the West Indies during a September tri-series in Malaysia, got two lives — on 85 and 91 — but paced himself well in the final over from fast bowler Ian Bradshaw that fetched him 11 runs. Tendulkar struck one six and nine boundaries in his 76-ball knock.

Boosting India’s run spree were skipper Rahul Dravid (78) and opener Sourav Ganguly (68), who continued his impressive return to the one-day team after 16 months.

Tendulkar shared a rampant 118-run stand off 112 deliveries for the third wicket with Dravid. Dravid scored seven fours in his 109-ball innings. He was dismissed trying to clear the mid-on boundary off spinner Marlon Samuels, only to be caught by Lendl Simmons. Mahendra Dhoni’s blazing unbeaten 40 off 20 balls accelerated the scoring in Tendulkar’s company. Their unbroken fourth-wicket partnership fetched 75 runs.

India got off to a brisk start as opener Robin Uthappa set the pace with a 17-ball 28 that included two successive sixes off Dwayne Smith. Uthappa cut Smith struck two consecutive sixes but fell on the third ball that edged to Chris Gayle at second slip. Ganguly’s 62nd ODI half-century ended when he stepped out against Gayle and was stumped by Denesh Ramdin.

The West Indies were never in the contest after a tottering start saw its top batting order dismissed with just 83 runs on the board. Devon Smith’s 24 was the only decent knock as Gayle (6), Shivnarine Chanderpaul (14), Lara (3) and Simmons (4) fell cheaply.

Samuels top-scored with a 62-ball 55 and added 65 runs for the sixth wicket with Ramdin (40). This was the last international fixture for the West Indies ahead of the World Cup in March-April. India will host Sri Lanka for four matches in February.

SCOREBOARD

India

R Uthappa c Gayle b Powell 28

S Ganguly st Ramdin b Gayle 68

R Dravid c Simmons b Samuels 78

S Tendulkar not out 100

M Dhoni not out 40

Extras: 27 (lb14, nb4, w9)

Total: 341/3 (50 overs)

FoW: 1-47, 2-148, 3-266

West Indies bowling: Powell 8-0-68-1, Dwayne S 8-0-49-0, Emrit 9-0-65-0, Samuels 9-0-51-1, Gayle 8-0-34-1, Bradshaw 8-0-60-0

West Indies

S C’paul c Harbhajan b Zaheer 14

C Gayle b Agarkar 6

Devon S c Yuvraj b Pathan 24

M Samuels c Pathan b Kumble 55

B Lara run out 3

L Simmons run out 4

D Ramdin c Kumble b Harbhajan 40

Dwayne S lbw b Kumble 0

R Emrit c Uthappa b Agarkar 13

I Bradshaw not out 14

D Powell c Raina b Yuvraj 1

Extras: 7 (lb3, w4)

Total: 181 (41.4 overs)

FoW: 1-10, 2-32, 3-65, 4-72, 5-83, 6-148, 7-153, 8-155, 9-180

India bowling: Agarkar 9-0-40-2, Zaheer 6-1-21-1, Pathan 7-0-43-1, Harbhajan 8-1-30-1, Kumble 7-1-27-2, Yuvraj 4.4-0-17-1