India easily outgun reigning champions

Cricket365
March 23, 2014

Batsmen Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma completed what spin bowlers Ravindra Jadeja and Amit Mishra started, as India completed a comfortable seven-wicket victory over the West Indies in Sunday's crucial World Twenty20 Group 2 fixture in Mirpur, Dhaka.

The Windies' much-vaunted batting order, lined with the big-hitting services of opener Chris Gayle, captain Darren Sammy and all-rounders Dwayne Smith, Marlon Samuels and Dwayne Bravo flattered to deceive.

Gayle's cavalier 34 and Simmons' closing 27 were as good as it got in a disappointing total of 129 for seven. The men from the Caribbean were entirely outdone by a bowling attack very adept to conditions on the sub-continent.

Mishra and Jadeja were the pick, snaring figures of two for 18 and three for 34 respectively. Specialist slow bowler Ravichandran Ashwin and part-timer Suresh Raina, meanwhile, weighed in with a slew of economical overs – and the roles of seamers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami were arguably redundant on a pitch very conducive to turn.

India's pursuit was prompt, hampered only by opener Shikhar Dhawan's fall for a duck. Kohli and Sharma combined superbly, orchestrating a 106-run alliance inside 14 overs. Rain scored 62 not out to Kohli's 54, with the pair striking 10 boundaries and three sixes.

The reigning WT20 champions' attack lacked inspiration, despite the presence of trump card Sunil Narine and burgeoning left-arm seamer Krishmar Santokie. The late dismissals of Kohli and the veteran Yuvraj Singh, though, brought some consolation.

The result consolidated the Indians' lead in the group, while the Windies' superior net run-rate pushed past fourth-placed Australia, who earlier lost to Pakistan by 16 runs despite outstanding half-centuries from all-rounder Glenn Maxwell and opener Aaron Finch.