India’s fourth consecutive victory this World Cup was a hard-won game, but it was enough for the defending champions to book place in the quarterfinals.
After beating the West Indies in the fourth match in Perth on Friday, India now have the record of winning eight successive World Cup games. Remarkable indeed! After bowling the West Indies out for a mere 182, India rounded up the match by four wickets.
This win has almost ensured India that they are going to top Pool B of the World Cup group. India’s next matches are against Ireland and Zimbabwe, which won’t pose big challenges for the team.
In hindsight, developments from the game — the management won’t be happy about include three dropped catches and four lost wickets, in quick succession. Other than that, it was a convincing show from MS Dhoni that was the biggest highlight of the match.
From the time India took the field, they meant business. Spearheaded by Mohammed Shami’s fine opening spell, India’s bowling choked the West Indies top-order and restricted their opponents to a manageable score. In the end, it wasn’t Shami alone, everyone in the bowling unit contributed.
Without West Indies skipper Jason Holder’s career best ODI score, his team would have been all out at 125. In answer, the West Indies did manage to apply pressure on India after opener Shikhar Dhawan was out in the slip cordon early on.
Things continued to go downhill for the Indians with the loss of three more crucial wickets including Virat Kohli. This put captain cool, MS Dhoni, in a position to lead from the front by taking charge of the batting. Dhoni was just superb today. He stayed till the end to finish off things.
The most surprising package of the match wasn’t India’s bowling performance in this match, but the consistency with which Indian bowlers were hitting the right areas. They look nothing like the bunch, which were struggling and stumbling during the disappointing Australian tour.
Batting first, the West Indies were a brazen and lost too many wickets within the first 10 overs of the match. In comparison, India were off to a very cautious start to their run-chase after losing two early wickets. But this approach couldn’t stop their downward spiral. It wasn’t an easy chase India had to see off the new ball attack of the West Indies, which was sharp and accurate.
Virat Kohli rose temporarily to the challenge. He played some exquisite front-foot shots while Ajinkya Rahane made full use to gaps between the fielders. In one of the overs, the West Indies pacer Kemar Roach appealed to the third umpires for a caught behind appeal against Kohli, but it was turned down.
There was huge cheer in the ground to welcome the decision of the third umpire and that could have set the right tone for the run-chase. Sadly Virat perished after a getting a start. Thereafter, none of the Indian batsman except Dhoni could stand tall in front of the West Indies pace. With the bat, R Ashwin also gave a much-needed support to his captain. In all, it was a good team effort!
