West Indies' Marlon Samuels (left) hits a ball as teammate Brian Lara looks on during the third one-day international cricket match between India and West Indies in Chennai on Saturday. - Reuters

CHENNAI, India (CMC):

West Indies captain Brian Lara has praised Marlon Samuels but has urged the 26-year-old batsman to be more consistent. This comes following the Jamaican right-hander's attractive 98 as West Indies won the third one-day international (ODI) of the four-match series by three wickets on Saturday.

"Hopefully, we can get a lot more out of Marlon. I think it is very important that he is consistent and that's what we're going to be aiming for," Lara said in a post-match press conference on Saturday.

Man of the Match Samuels and Lara, who stroked a polished 83, guided West Indies to 270 for seven off 43.4 overs, overhauling India's 268 all out off 48 overs.

The victory hauled West Indies back into the series after they had lost the first two matches in Nagpur and Cuttack, respectively.

The final match is scheduled for Vadodara next Wednesday.

Needing a victory to keep the series alive, West Indies slipped to 92 for three in the 13th over before Samuels and Lara combined in a match-winning stand of 127 for the fourth wicket.

Top performer

"I don't know about (Samuels) turning the corner but what I do know is that in the last two wins that we've had, Marlon Samuels was a top performer with the bat, so I think that is something very good for us," Lara said.

"We are trying to build a lot more match winners in the team. We've got the likes of Chris Gayle and (Shivnarine) Chanderpaul, (Ramnaresh) Sarwan, so we need a lot more. You look at Australia, all the guys are match winners in the Australian team.

"He knows where his game is at the moment and he would love to improve it. He would love to be talked about, so we just have to hope and pray that things work out for him."

Despite his immense talent, Samuels has failed to deliver for the West Indies consistently.

Last month, he smashed a majestic 100 not out against Pakistan in Multan and has scored 1,850 runs - just two centuries - in 82 ODIs at an average of 29.36. Samuels, who made an auspicious debut in Australia as a 19-year-old in 2000, averages 28.21 in Tests, with one century, in 23 matches.

His off-spin bowling has also become useful to the West Indies and he has the potential to be a key player for the West Indies in the Cricket World Cup (CWC) bid in the Caribbean in March and April.