India defeat West Indies to qualify for quarterfinals

India versus West Indies has always been a cracker and it was no different today when the defending champions defeated the Caribbean team by four wicket in a match that was interesting from the first ball that bowled.

West Indies captain, Jason Holder, won the toss and opted to bat first on a very good pitch at the WACA ground in Perth. It did not seem like a good decision when both Gayle and Smith went early.  

At 67-5 the West Indies were in deep trouble and it was the bowlers who made the biggest contributions with the bat to lift the team to 182.

Man of the match Mohammed Shami did the damage at the top to finish with figures of 3-35.  Umesh Yadav, Mohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja gave their contribution to bundle out the Caribbean team for a very modest total in the 42nd over. Jason holder 57 off 64 ball was the only West Indian batsman to make over 30.

When the West Indies came to bowl they looked like a good unit and was using the bouncers to good effect like the Indian bowlers. Jerome Taylor’s good form of getting early wickets continued when he got both openers cheaply, Sharma for 7 and Dhawan for 9.

Kohli and Rahane came and settled the innings and was looking to take the game away from the West Indies team who were really fielding well.

Andre Russell was brought on and he got the wicket of Kohli. Two overs later Kemar Roach, who was brought on for Sulieman Benn got the wicket of Rahane.

At 107-5, India and Mahendra Singh Dhoni had to dig deep. West Indies looked at this stage as if they could cause an upset but Captain Dhoni and Ravichandran Ashwin brought home the defending champions.

Jason Holder’s decision to bowl Samuels and Smith in the powerplay overs instead of himself and Taylor at that stage when wickets were important was quite puzzling.

With the the win, India now equal their own record set in 2003, winning eight (8) consecutive World Cup matches and book a place in the quarter finals with one game to play.

West Indies must now win their next game against the United Arab Emirates and hope that South Africa defeat Pakistan for them to progress in the competition.