Dhoni packs off Windies, takes India to quarters

The overall quality of cricket was appalling. Irresponsible shots by batsmen from both sides, dropped catches from Indian fielders, sloppy ground work by the West Indies and a total of 35 wides. But who cares, when you can have a finish as interesting as the one on Friday.

India prevailed over the West Indies by four wickets and with 65 balls to spare in their chase of 183, but that doesn’t really tell the true story. Before M S Dhoni edged Marlon Samuels to third man to bring up India’s winning runs, the large Indian gathering went through a gamut of emotions in a low-scoring affair here at the WACA.

India made a heavy weather of their modest target before the calm assurance of skipper Dhoni (45 n.o., 56b, 3x4, 1x6) guided them to 185/6 in 39.1 overs and thereby into the quarterfinals.

The win consolidated their position at the top in Group B as they travel to New Zealand for their last two group matches against Ireland (March 10 at Hamilton) and Zimbabwe (March 14 at Auckland). India appeared to be firmly on their way to their fourth consecutive win after skittling the West Indies for 182 in 44.2 overs.

The three-pronged Indian pace attack — comprising man of the match Mohammad Shami (3/35), Umesh Yadav (2/42) and Mohit Sharma (1/35) — came up with its finest show yet to harry the West Indies’ batsmen with their pace, bounce and some swing with the new ball.

India had reduced West Indies to a sorry 71 for six before their skipper Jason Holder (57) struck a sparkling fifty to bolster the total with a 51-run association with Jerome Taylor for the ninth wicket. The effort, however, wasn’t big enough to prevent even a stuttering India from victory.