The Indian team after winning the four-match ODI series against the West Indies, at Beausejour Stadium on Sunday. (AFP)

Gros Islet: India clinched the one-day International series against the West Indies 2-1 after a downpour abandoned the fourth and final match at the Beausejour Stadium Sunday.

The match started an hour late following heavy rain after India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and elected to field, forcing the umpires to reduce it to a 49-over-a-side affair.

West Indies were 27 for one when rain interrupted play for the second time after they had lost the crucial wicket of captain Chris Gayle for a duck. Runako Morton (12 not out) and Ramnaresh Sarwan (12 not out) were at the crease when play was called off.

With this victory, India registered only their second bilateral series triumph in the Caribbean. The last time they won a series in the West Indies was in 2002 under Sourav Ganguly’s captaincy.

India had earlier won the first match of the series by 20 runs, while West Indies came back strongly in the second, hammering the visitors by eight wickets.

Riding on Dhoni’s brilliance, India took the unassailable 2-1 lead, winning the third ODI by six wickets with a ball to spare.

Electing to field, Ishant Sharma gave India a dream start, picking up Gayle in the second ball of the innings, caught behind by Dhoni with the hosts failing to open their account.

From there on, the West Indian batsmen found runs hard to come by against the accurate bowling of Ishant and Ashish Nehra. The hosts’ struggle can be gauged from the fact they failed to strike a single boundary in the 7.3 overs they faced.