ICC World Cup: India beat West Indies by 4 wickets, reach quarters

Perth A superlative bowling performance helped India beat the West Indies by four wickets in a World Cup Pool B encounter at the WACA here on Friday They registered their fourth straight victory and qualified for the quarterfinalsSkipper Jason Holder 57 waged a lone battle as the West Indies were bowled out for 182 in 442 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 105 overs to spareIndian bowlers once again dominated the proceedings from the start once Jason Holder elected to bat on a fast and bouncy WACA stripThe West Indies batsmen never looked like being in the game as they fell one after the other failing to gauge the bounce of the track and getting all out in 442 oversA fitagain Mohammed Shami 335 in 8 overs coming back after a matchs rest was the best of the lot as he troubled the batsman with both pace and bounce He bowled a deadly firstspell where he took both Dwayne Smith 6 and Chris Gayle 21 out of the equation to seize the momentum in favour of Mahendra Singh Dhonis sideMohammad Shami Pic AFPHe was complemented well by the quartet of Umesh Yadav 242 in 10 overs Mohit Sharma 135 Ravichandran Ashwin 138 and Ravindra Jadeja 227 as West Indies looked no better than a minnow side during the entire duration of their inningsYoung Holder 57 did play his heart out as his gutsy halfcentury provided some respect to his teams total He added 51 runs for the ninth wicket with Jerome Taylor 11 as West Indies managed to cross the 175run mark after being 124 for eight at one stageThe way Indian team sorted Gayle out was all about strategy and execution Aided by the bounce both Yadav and Shami mostly pitched it on good length as Gayle found it difficult to tee off in his customary stand and deliver style The extra bounce saw a couple of slashes go towards third man but fielders couldnt complete the catches The bighitter played and missed a few It took him 18 balls to hit his first four over over midoff when Yadav bowled in the slot Gayle also hit Shami over midon while pulling Yadav over deep midwicket for a sixHaving lost his opening partner Smith and Marlon Samuels 2 Gayle showed some urgency but struggled big time At this point of time Dhoni removed his deep fine leg fielder and made it stand at deep square leg The move paid dividends as there was an intriguing battle going on between Gayle and ShamiBefore Gayle became the third victim Smith was done in by that extra bounce that Shami generated with practically no room to play the square cut The resultant edge went to Dhoni as a regulation catchSamuels 2 was runout when he misjudged a single after Gayles mistimed pullshot fell just short of a diving Mohit running forward from his midwicket position By the time Gayle refused the single Samuels had nearly come upto him and there was no way that he could have made it back Denesh Ramdin 0 was the fourth wicket to fall as Yadav bowled a fullish delivery and the wicketkeeperbatsman went for an expansive drive only to be played on With 35 for four at the start of the 10th over there was no chance for a West Indies revival after thatSlightly built lefthander Jonathan Carter 21 had a 32run stand for the fifth wicket with Lendl Simmons 9 in which the former was the dominant partner Simmons became Mohits first victim when his hook shot landed straight at Yadavs throat at the deep fine leg boundary as West Indies were 67 for fiveWhile facing Ashwin Carter was repeatedly trying to play the slog sweep without taking the bounce into account He misread the bounce and paid price for it as his topedged sweep was easily taken by Shami at deep fine leg boundary to make 71 for sixAndre Russell 8 hit Mohit for a six but then tried to hoick Jadeja over deep midwicket to be taken by Virat running forward from his position at longoff boundaryAt the halfway stage West Indies were down in the dumps at 88 for seven and it was then left to Holder to salvage the innings partly