ICC World Cup: After crushing Windies, India a point away from semis

MANCHESTER

: The full house at the historic Old Trafford gave him a hero’s ovation as MS Dhoni walked into the middle to bat in the India-West Indies World Cup game on Thursday. The fans kept egging him on by continuously chanting his name, expecting their icon to treat them to some of his legendary fireworks.


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Dhoni, as usual, seemed completely immune to what was happening around him. He kept playing at an unhurried pace. As overs ticked by, everyone was wondering when those towering hits would come. Dhoni made them wait till the very last over before launching into a wayward Oshane Thomas.

He hoisted two sixes and a four to send the crowd into raptures and the 16 which came off the over took India to 268/7, a total which looked like just about par on a slowish pitch.

By the time the final rites of the game were being written, 268 looked humungous, so brittle was

West Indies

’ response. The Indian bowling attack simply feasted on the vulnerabilities of the Caribbean batsmen as India romped home by 125 runs, celebrating in style their rise to No. 1 in ODI team rankings.

The lethal Mohammed Shami made early inroads by removing Chris Gayle and Shai Hope and came back to grab two more. Shami, who has replaced an injured Bhuvneshwar Kumar, has now taken eight for 56 in the two games he has played.

Jasprit Bumrah kept the pressure on and so did the spinners to make things awfully difficult for West Indies batsmen. West Indies, who were shot out for 143 in 34.2 overs, made an unceremonious exit from the tournament.

When play started, it was bright and even hot in Manchester, much like home for Team India. Virat Kohli won the toss and elected to bat. It was the same pitch on which India had piled up 336/5 against Pakistan on June 16. On Thursday, the pitch played slow, making hitting big shots difficult.

It was a tedious journey for the batsmen after Rohit Sharma left early, given out caught behind through a decision review.

He kept shaking his head as he strolled out, clearly unhappy with the decision. At the 20-over mark, India were 97/1 with KL Rahul and Virat Kohli looking to build a hefty partnership. But Rahul, frustrated by the accurate Jason Holder, tried to play across the line and was bowled by the Windies' captain for 48.

Lowest totals in this WC:

Vijay Shankar and Kedar Jadhav were consumed by the persistent Kemar Roach and India were left looking at the two stalwarts – Kohli and Dhoni with 21,677 ODI runs between them before this game – to shape the innings.

Kohli, who hit his fourth straight fifty in the World Cup, was caught off-guard by a slow bouncer by Holder and hit it straight to the mid-wicket fielder at 72, a score which fetched him the Man-of-the-Match award. He was furious with himself but the crafty Holder must get some credit.

It was left to the ebullient Hardik Pandya (46 off 38 balls) to provide a late flourish before Dhoni capped it with his final-over heroics. Dhoni, who survived the simplest of stumping chances when at 8, finished at a 61-ball 56.



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