India produced a disciplined bowling performance as they defeat West Indies by 125 runs in the World Cup match at the Old Trafford in Manchester on Thursday. It wasn’t a single man show, almost each and every bowlers contributed in the team’s victory against West Indies.
Mohammad Shami (4/16), Jasprit Bumrah (2/9), Yuzvendra Chahal (2/39), while Hardikh Pandya and Kuldeep Yadav took one wicket each, ripped through West Indies batting and helped men in blue to march towards victory. While chasing a target, Caribbean, got off to a disastrous start when both their openers failed to settle down on the crease and walked to the pavilion leaving West Indies in a difficult situation.
Shami (4/16 in 6.2 overs) was at his best in the first spell as he first bounced Chris Gayle out and then remove Shai Hope. Nothing was going in the favour of West Indies.
In his second spell, he got Shimron Hetmyer while new ball partner Jasprit Bumrah (2/9 in 6 overs) was fast and accurate getting two wickets of successive deliveries.
Kuldeep Yadav (1/35 in 9 overs) and Yuzvendra Chahal (2/39 in 7 overs) too struck and made it difficult for the caribbean batsmen to score runs.
West Indies lost the last seven wickets for 63 runs in a space of 14 overs which indicated the Caribbean loss. However, Sunil Ambris (31) played few shots and was well supported from the other end by Nicholas Pooran (28 off 50 balls). The duo added 55 runs and was going fine with their bat, but in the 18th over Hardik Pandya trapped Ambris as he was lbw by him.
After Ambris dismissal, Pooran too couldn’t stay on the crease and in 20th over was caught Shami on Kuldeep Yadav’s ball. The skipper Jason Holder then played a rank bad shot off Chahal as West Indies were knocked out of the contest at the halfway stage, reeling at 98 for five.
Other batsmen, Carlos Brathwaite (1), Kemar Roach (14*), Sheldon Cottrell (10), Oshane Thomas (6) and Fabian Allen (0) didn’t contribute much and surrendered before Indian Bowlers as they lost the match.
Earlier, after opting to bat first, riding on half-centuries by Virat Kohli (72 off 82 balls) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (56 off 61 balls), India scored 268 for 7 and eventually it turned out to be good total as West Indies were shot out for 124 in only 34.2 overs.
With 11 points, India are now almost through and another win in their next three games will seal their position in the top four as West Indies were knocked out with two games remaining.
Skipper Virat Kohli created another milestone in his illustrous career becoming the fastest batsmen to score 20,000 runs in just 417 innings surpassing cricket legends Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara’s 453 innings each against West Indies here.
Kohli who has been consistent in this World Cup completed his fourth consecutive half century (72) in the 28th over also reached 53rd half century from 224 innings in the ODIs. (UNI)
