Team India noted their fourth consecutive victory in World Cup and entered quarter finals after beating West Indies on a bouncy WACA pitch here on Friday.
West Indies won the toss and elected to bat first. Initially Gayle seemed to be stormy when he smashed two boundaries and a six. But he gifted his wicket, after giving three difficult chances. Once he got out, Indian bowlers ripped apart the Windies batting line-up.
Indian pacers bowl extremely well and especially Shami who did not play last match due to injury came up with an accurate line-and-length. He and Umesh Yadav got the most use of the pacy WACA wicket and gave no chance to the batsmen to score much. Adding to the woes Some poor shot selection by Caribbean batsmen also aided the defending champions.
Third pacer Mohit (1/35) was also impressive while spinners Ashwin (1/38) and Jadeja (2/27) choked the Windies and consequently the batsmen gave away their wickets.
Windies captain Jason Holder (57) was the only batsmen who resisted Indian bowling attack and scored his highest One-Day International (ODI) score. The 23-year-old all-rounder showed the WACA wicket was a good one to bat on as he hammered three sixes and four fours in his 64-ball innings before being caught on the last ball of the innings.
Mohammed Shami, who was the man-of-the-match, clinched 3-35, while getting support from his colleague bowlers. Indian bowlers restricted Windies for 182 in 44.2 overs.
In reply, India started the innings in a defending manner. West Indies took India’s both openers Rohit Sharma (7) and Shikhar Dhawan (9) in early overs and put the team in troubles. Even vice captain Virat Kohli, who seems to be stable lost his wicket after scoring a 33 off 36-balls. Later India loses the wickets of Ajinkhya Rahane (14), Suresh Raina (22), Ravindra Jadeja (13) in regular intervals.
It was only Dhoni who played patiently with the help of Ravichandran Ashwin (16 not out) made the win possible and took the team to the bays of victory. India reached the target with six wickets down. Mahindra Singh Dhoni scored an unbeaten 45.
India next play Ireland on March 10 at Hamilton.
Brief scores: West Indies 182 all out in 44.2 overs (Jason Holder 57; Mohammed Shami 3/35, Ravindra Jadeja 2/27, Umesh Yadav 2/42) vs India 185/6 in 39.1 overs (Mahendra Singh Dhoni 45 not out, Virat Kohli 33; Jerome Taylor 2/33, Andre Russell 2/43).
- Manohar. M
