Bowlers fashion India's easy win

On the eve of the match, Suresh Raina had said that West Indies weren’t adept at rotating strike while Darren Sammy had challenged India to stop them from hitting sixes.

Raina’s words came prophetic and India did stop West Indies’ batsmen from clearing ropes as often as the Caribbeans would have loved to. On a pitch where Australia and Pakistan had posted a combined 366 runs in 40 overs in an earlier match, West Indies made a stilted progress. India limited Chris Gayle to two sixes while the rest neither manoeuvred the strike nor managed to pull off big shots. Given the depth in batting of either teams, it was expected to be another runathon but West Indies’ batting capitulation meant it was another lopsided win for India.

After restricting West Indies to 129 for seven in an excellent bowling show, India coasted to 130 for three in 19.4 overs for their second win in as many matches in Group 2 of the World T20 here at the Sher-e-Bangla National stadium on Sunday.

The win took India to the top of the table and another win in their remaining two matches – Australia and Bangladesh – will put them in with a bright chance of making the semis.  

It was a victory that again belonged to the bowlers, a much maligned lot in India where batsmen hog most of the limelight. Samuel Badree, for the briefest of moments, raised hopes of a West Indies’ fightback, trapping Shikhar Dhawan in front in the opening over of the innings but an imperious Virat Kohli (54, 41b, 5x4, 1x6) and a confident Rohit Sharma (62, 55b, 5x4, 2x6) shared a 106-run association for the second wicket to shut the door on West Indies. Kohli went on the offensive immediately against Sunil Narine, the one bowler expected to trouble the Indians.

Rohit didn’t throw away his start this time and saw India home. Yuvraj Singh’s slow approach did stretch the match to the final over but India’s victory was never in doubt.

MS Dhoni went with the same side that had humbled Pakistan on Friday. With toss going his way for the second successive time, it helped the Indian skipper to execute his plans. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was right on the money once again. Both Gayle and his partner Dwayne Smith struggled to put bat to the ball when Bhuvneshwar operated, managing just three runs in his three accurate overs.

Strangely, Dhoni didn’t bring the paceman to bowl the last over which went to Ravindra Jadeja. The left-arm spinner had already conceded 27 runs in his first three overs and he gave away another 21 to allow West Indies swell their total. But the West Infdies had done little significant in the previous 19 overs to make that assault count. Their innings never gathered momentum at any stage of the game, finding it difficult to pace the innings against some accurate bowling. The spinners, barring Jadeja in the final over, came up with another impressive performance. Amit Mishra (2/18) and R Ashwin (1/24) controlled the middle phase, giving regular breaks.

Gayle posed the single biggest challenge but the Jamaican was unable to play his natural game as he was neither given the width to open his arms nor the pace to play his strokes. The southpaw did give glimpses of his prowess with two big hits over fence off Mohammad Shami and Mishra to bring the packed stadium alive but he didn’t last too long after that. His partner Smith was almost stagnant at the other end before Ashwin ended his misery.

Marlon Samuels, Dwayne Bravo, skipper Darren Sammy and Andre Russell all failed to kick on, paving the way for another facile win for India.    

Score board  
 
WEST INDIES

Smith c & b Ashwin    11
(19b, 2x4)
Gayle (run out)    34
(33b, 1x4, 2x6)
Samuels st Dhoni b Mishra    18
(22b, 3x4)
Simmons c Dhawan b Jadeja    27
(23b, 1x4, 2x6)
Bravo lbw Mishra    0
(0b)
Sammy c Rohit b Jadeja    11
(7b, 2x4)
Russell c Kohli b Jadeja    7
(5b, 1x6)
Narine (not out)    7
(2b, 1x6)
Ramdin (not out)    0
(0b)
Extras (LB-1, W-12, NB-1)    14
Total (for 7 wkts, 20 overs)    129
Fall of wickets: 1-38 (Smith), 2-62 (Gayle), 3-74 (Samuels), 4-74 (Bravo), 5-97 (Sammy), 6-108 (Russell), 7-121 (Simmons).
Bowling: Bhuvneshwar Kumar 3-0-3-0 (w-1), Mohammad Shami 3-0-27-0 (w-5), Ravichandran Ashwin 4-0-24-1 (w-1), Amit Mishra 4-0-18-2 (w-1), Suresh Raina 2-0-8-0 (w-2), Ravindra Jadeja 4-0-48-3 (nb-1, w-2).
Runs during Power Play: 1-6 overs: 24/0.

INDIA

Rohit (not out)    62
(55b, 5x4, 2x6)
Dhawan lbw Badree    0
(3b)
Kohli b Russell    54
(41b, 5x4, 1x6)
Yuvraj c Gayle b Samuels    10
(19b, 1x4)
Raina (not out)    1
(1b)
Extras (W-2, NB-1)    3
Total (for 2 wkts, 19.3 overs)    130
Fall of wickets: 1-1 (Dhawan), 2-107 (Kohli), 3-129 (Yuvraj)

Bowling: Badree 4-0-28-1, Santokie 4-0-27-0, Narine 4-0-20-0 (w-1, nb-1), Bravo 1-0-12-0, Sammy 1-0-9-0, Samuels 3.4-0-22-1, Russell 2-0-12-1 (w-1).
Runs during Power Play: 1-6 overs: 48/1.