Indian bowling unit continued its splendid show as it bundled out a below-par West Indies for a paltry 182 in a group league match at the ICC Cricket World Cup, here today.
Indian bowlers once again dominated the proceedings from the start once Jason Holder elected to bat on a fast and bouncy WACA strip.
The 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 44.2 overs.
A fit-again Mohammed Shami (3/35 in 8 overs), coming back after a match's rest, was the best of the lot as he troubled the batsman with both pace and bounce.
He bowled a deadly first-spell where he took both Dwayne Smith (6) and Chris Gayle (21) out of the equation, to seize the momentum in favour of Mahendra Singh Dhoni's side.
He was complemented well by the quartet of Umesh Yadav (2/42 in 10 overs), Mohit Sharma (1/35), Ravichandran Ashwin (1/38) and Ravindra Jadeja (2/27) as West Indies looked no better than a minnow side during the entire duration of their innings.
Young Holder (57) did play his heart out as his gutsy half-century provided some respect to his team's total. He added 51 runs for the ninth wicket with Jerome Taylor (11) as West Indies managed to cross the 175-run mark after being 124 for eight at one stage.
The 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 couldn't complete the catches. The big-hitter played and missed a few. It took him 18 balls to hit his first four over over mid-off when Yadav bowled in the slot. Gayle also hit Shami over mid-on while pulling Yadav over deep mid-wicket for a six.
Having 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 Shami.
Shami bowled one short of length which kicked up and Gayle top edged a pull shot which went to Mohit at deep square-leg, placed specifically for that catch.
