Mirpur: India put up yet another clinical display to tank defending champions West Indies with a commanding seven-wicket victory in a group league encounter to brighten their chance of a semi-final berth in the ICC World T20, here on Sunday. It was an authoritative all-round performance from India as they first restricted the West Indies to a modest 129 for seven and then knocked off the runs with two balls to spare. Yuvraj Singh (10) was a bit scratchy in the end but Raina finished with a square cut off Narine. Virat Kohli, in the middle of a great patch, again batted well to smash his way to 54 while Rohit Sharma did his cause no harm by notching up an unbeaten 62. Virat faced 41 balls hitting five fours and a six while Rohit’s knock contained five fours and two sixes in 55 balls.
This was after Indian spinners led by man-of-the-match Amit Mishra kept the West Indies batting under tight check. This was also the first time that India beat West Indies at a World T20 event. With back to back wins over Pakistan and West Indies, India are now on top of Group 2 and a win over Bangladesh would clinch a last-four berth for the ‘Men In Blue’ for the first time since the inaugural edition in 2007.
The chase was delayed by 10 minutes due to a confusion about the target. But once the match started, only blip was Shikhar Dhawan (0) being adjudged lbw off leg-break bowler Samuel Badree. Kohli and Rohit were not in a mood to delay the proceedings as they tore apart the West Indies bowlers with some clean hitting. Rohit picked up Sunil Narine for some special treatment as he lofted him over long-off for a six. The second six was a half-tracker that was pulled over deep mid-wicket boundary. Kohli started with a four and then pulled Badree over deep mid-wicket for a six. After that, there was no stopping for the Indian batsmen as both matched each other stroke for stroke during their 106-run partnership for the second wicket with century of the stand coming in only 74 balls.
Earlier, Indian spinners yet again put on a dominating show as they restricted West Indies to a modest total. Amit Mishra again performed admirably as he was the pick of the Indian bowlers with fantastic figures of two for 18 while Ravichandran Ashwin (1/24) also kept the batsmen under tight leash with his leg-stump line. Ravindra Jadeja (3/48) took some stick from Lendl Simmons (27) but should also be lauded for getting important breakthroughs. Team India’s spin trio accounted for six of the seven wickets that fell during the innings. Chris Gayle (34) was the top scorer but was not at all in his element as the other West Indies batsmen showed their ineptness against a quality spin attack.
But no one can take any credit away from Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who bowled a brilliant first-spell inside the six Powerplay overs which yielded only 24 runs. His three-over spell read an astonishing 3-0-3-0 with 16 dot balls against a crack pair of Gayle and Dwayne Smith. Smith in fact was repeatedly beaten trying to get a feel of Bhuvneshwar’s outswingers as there was relentless pressure on the Caribbean batsmen from the onset. At the other end, Gayle was lucky to survive a scare even before opening his account. He tried to flash hard at a length ball from Shami and an easy catch was dropped by Ravichandran Ashwin at first slip. Gayle tried to make up for it in Shami’s next over as he hit him for a six over long on and then punched him through vacant mid-wicket region for a boundary. When Mishra was introduced into the attack, Gayle welcomed him with a six. It was his routine “stand and deliver” six over long on.
