Manchester: Mohammed Shami (4/16) continued his brilliance with the ball as India crushed West Indies by 125 runs in their World Cup encounter at the Old Trafford here, Thursday. The win took India to 11 points from six games, only a point away from the semifinal berth.
Chasing a competitive target of 269 runs, Windies were reduced to 16/2 inside seven overs. Sunil Ambris (31) and Nicolas Pooran (28) rebuilt the momentum with a 55-run third wicket stand.
However, once the Ambris got out off a Hardik Pandya (1/28) delivery, West Indies started losing wickets at regular intervals to be eventually bowled out for 143 in 34.2 overs. Jasprit Bumrah (2/9), Yuzvendra Chahal (2/39) and Kuldeep Yadav (1/35) took the other wickets for India.
Earlier, MS Dhoni (56 n o, 61b, 3×4, 2×6) scratched around for the better part of his innings before exploding in the final over to take India to a competitive 268/7.
There has been a lot of talk about Dhoni’s failure to rotate the strike and Thursday’s batting effort on another dry and slow track will only amplify the criticism before he got 16 in the final over.
It was Hardik Pandya (46, 38b, 5×4), whose aggression took India past 250-run mark after skipper Virat Kohli (72, 82b, 8×4) scored his fourth half century of the competition.
For West Indies, Veteran Kemar Roach (3/36) bowled fast and fuller length deliveries using the off-cutters to good effect while skipper Jason Holder (2/33) was economical, troubling the batsmen with back of the length deliveries.
Left-arm spinner Fabian Allen (0/52) didn’t get any wicket but a crucial aspect of his spell was the last five overs in which he gave away only 15 runs.
At the start, a back of length delivery to Rohit Sharma (18) moved inwards after pitching and Shai Hope took a catch which looked debatable as even the ultra-edge for DRS couldn’t give a decisive picture. However, the Indian vice-captain was given out.
KL Rahul (48) once again looked shaky while playing a few good drives in between. But never during the partnership of 69 with Kohli could he dominate the Caribbean bowlers. Vijay Shankar (14) and Kedar Jadhav (7) also failed to do the job.