Staff Writer – Archi
West Indies Cricket news. Perhaps India required a tough match going ahead in the ICC Cricket World Cup. But they had not bargained for what they got against the West Indies at the WACA in Perth on Friday. After their bowlers had done a great job of restricting the rivals to mere 182, they themselves had to battle hard to overhaul the tricky target. And not for the first time, they owed it to their skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s composed batting, as they romped home with four wickets and 10.5 overs to spare.
By virtue of this victory, India stretched their winning run at the global event to eight matches stretching from 2011 edition’s group league match against West Indies in Chennai. The eight wins thus equals the record of Sourav Ganguly-led team’s effort during the 2003 edition in South Africa.
On a fast and bouncy pitch, the Indian batsmen found the West Indies bowling too hot to handle and nearly surrendered the match. Losing seven wickets for 134 and only the tail as his company, skipper Dhoni (45 not out) bailed the team out with a courageous effort. He was cool as a cucumber even when he saw the batsmen depart to unnecessary, aggressive strokes at the other end.
It required the calm and composed presence of R Ashwin at the other end to prop Dhoni to play some lovely shots to quickly close in on the target. The upper cut he played off Andre Russell over the third man for a six had class written all over it. From there on, he got his rhythm back and played some fine hooks and drives and picked the gaps to collect some quick runs. He took India home when he edged Marlon Samuels to the third man boundary for his third four.
India, like New Zealand in Group A, are unbeaten, having won all four matches. They are now in a strong position to top Group B as they travel to New Zealand to play their last two group matches against Ireland and Zimbabwe. Thereafter, they will return to Melbourne for the quarterfinal, where they will most likely be up against England or Bangladesh on March 19.
Marlon Samuels. Photo courtesy sports.freeskl.com
If India were able to restrict the mercurial West Indies batsmen they owed it to man-of-the-match pacer Mohammed Shami, again the spearhead of the Indian attack after missing out on the UAE game due to an injury. He bowled a hostile opening spell which had the batsmen on the hop. So much so, Chris Gayle could not lay his bat on the deliveries which whizzed past. After Shami provided India an early breakthrough when he had Dwayne Smith caught behind, the West Indies received a big jolt when in-form Marlon Samuels was run out in a mix-up with Gayle.
The flummoxed Gayle thereafter swung at every delivery and collected 21 with two fours and a six. But his brazen aggressive effort was never going to last and he holed out at deep mid-wicket off Shami. West Indies thereafter lost a spate of wickets and were down to 85 for seven. If they were able to post a total which gave them a bit of a handle, it was due to their skipper Jason Holder, who batting at number nine, posted the highest score in the match. He batted like a frontline batsman and hit three sixes and four boundaries from 64 balls to record the only half-century of the low-scoring game.
India on their part should not have allowed the West Indies to add almost 100 runs after they had the West Indies on their knees at 85 for seven. But Dhoni allowed things to drift and Holder to take control of the bowling. However, with India going on to win the game, it did not count for much.
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