ICC World Cup 2015: India defeat West Indies to confirm quarterfinal berth

Chris Gayle congratulates Indian skipper MS Dhoni after India defeated West Indies by 4 wickets

Perth, March 6 (IANS): A superlative bowling performance helped India beat the West Indies by four wickets in the World Cup Pool B encounter at the WACA here on Friday. They registered their fourth straight victory and qualified for the quarterfinals.

Skipper Jason Holder (57) waged a lone battle as the West Indies were bowled out for 182 in 44.2 overs. During the chase, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (not out 45), Virat Kohli (33) and Ashwin (16) helped the defending champions cross the line with four wickets and 10.5 overs to spare.

Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav were menacing with the new ball, and they completely tied down the Caribbean top order with their pace and bounce. Chris Gayle tried to hit his way out of trouble, and was lucky to survive two close calls early on in the innings. His luck didn’t last long, though, as he holed out to Shami after scoring 21.

The rest of the West Indies batting didn’t offer much resistance until Holder arrived at the crease. The captain played a lone hand once again, rescuing his team from 85 for 7 to 182 all out.

All the Indian bowlers were among the wickets, with Shami being the most successful, picking up three for 35. Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja finished with two wickets apiece to complete an all-round bowling performance.

India’s batting was considerably less assured though, and both Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan were sent back early in the face of some fine pace bowling from Jerome Taylor. Kohli tried to steady the ship, but he fell to a mistimed pull off a short ball to leave India in trouble.

But Dhoni was as calm as ever, and in the company of first Jadeja and then Ravichandran Ashwin, guided India home. Shami was awarded the Man-of-the-Match award for his bowling heroics.

With this win, India have confirmed their place in the quarterfinals of the tournament, and are now in prime position to finish on top of Pool B.

Here is the full scorecard of the match:

West Indies

Dwayne Smith c Dhoni b Mohammed Shami 6

Chris Gayle c Mohit Sharma b Mohammed Shami 21

Marlon Samuels run out (Mohit/Kohli) 2

Jonathan Carter c Mohammed Shami b Ashwin 21

Dinesh Ramdin b Yadav 0

Lendl Simmons c Yadav b MM Sharma 9

Darren Sammy c Dhoni b Mohammed Shami 26

Andre Russell c Kohli b Jadeja 8

Jason Holder c Kohli b Jadeja 57

Jerome Taylor c & b Yadav 11

Kemar Roach not out 0

Extras (lb 5, w 16) 21

Total (all out; 44.2 overs) 182

Fall of wickets: 1-8 (Smith, 4.5 overs), 2-15 (Samuels, 7.2), 3-35 (Gayle, 8.6), 4-35 (Ramdin, 9.1), 5-67 (Simmons, 18.1), 6-71 (Carter, 21.5), 7-85 (Russell, 24.1), 8-124 (Sammy, 35.4), 9-175 (Taylor, 42.6), 10-182 (Holder, 44.2).

Bowling

Mohammed Shami 8-2-35-3

Umesh Yadav 10-1-42-2

Ravichanderan Ashwin 9-0-38-1

Mohit Sharma 9-2-35-1

Ravindra Jadeja 8.2-0-27-2

India

Rohit Sharma c Ramdin b Taylor 7

Shikhar Dhawan c Sammy b Taylor 9

V Kohli c Samuels b Russell 33

Ajinkya Rahane c Ramdin b Roach 14

Suresh Raina c Ramdin b Smith 22

Mahendra Singh Dhoni not out 45

Ravindra Jadeja c Samuels b Russell 13

Ravichandran Ashwin not out 16

Extras (b 1, lb 3, w 19, nb 3) 26

Total (6 wickets; 39.1 overs) 185

Fall of wickets: 1-11 (Dhawan, 4.1 overs), 2-20 (RG Sharma, 6.6), 3-63 (Kohli, 14.6), 4-78 (Rahane, 17.5), 5-107 (Raina, 22.5), 6-134 (Jadeja, 29.3).

Bowling

Jerome Taylor 8-0-33-2

Jason Holder 7-0-29-0

Kemar Roach 8-1-44-1

Andre Russell 8-0-43-2

Dwayne Smith 5-0-22-1

Marlon Samuels 3.1-0-10-0

Match details:

Toss: West Indies, chose to bat

Points: India 2, West Indies 0

Man-of-the-Match: Mohammed Shami

Umpires: Kumar Dharmasena (Sri Lanka), Nigel Llong (England)

TV umpire: Billy Bowden (New Zealand)

Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (Sri Lanka)

Reserve umpire: Michael Gough (England)