Windies routed by India at WACA
The West Indies may be in decline but their demise does not appear to be as imminent as feared recently despite the loss to India tonight that has put them in danger of missing the World Cup finals.
The defending World Cup champions overcame a series of early scares to reach the target of 183 with just four wickets and 10.5 overs to spare to remain undefeated in the tournament.
India should now finish on top of Pool B while the West Indies face a crunch game against the winless United Arab Emirates that could decide whether they hold out Pakistan or Ireland to progress to the quarterfinals.
Once the undisputed champions of all forms of international cricket, the West Indies were dismissed for 182 by India whose vibrant new ball bowlers bullied a team bred on extreme pace.
If not for captain Jason Holder, who led from the front with a blazing 57 from No.9 after the top order imploded, the West Indies may not have reached three figures.
The score was 7-85 when Holder arrived but he found support from Darren Sammy (26) and Jerome Taylor (11) to produce a competitive total.
But the calypso pacemen then recalled their grand heritage at the WACA Ground by wreaking havoc with the new ball.
The phlegmatic MS Dhoni (45 not out) and Ravi Ashwin (16 not out) eventually saw India home with a game-high unbeaten 51-run stand after the team had slumped to 6-134 to give the West Indies hope of completing a stunning comeback win.
Speedster Jerome Taylor swung the brand new ball to force early edges from openers Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma while the disciplined bumper attack that was applied when the ball softened proved equally effective.
Although the West Indie bowled 18 wides, most of them were bouncers designed to intimidate the batsmen on the bounciest WACA pitch of the summer.
Virat Kohli (33) hoicked Andre Russell to the deep square leg stationed there only a ball or two earlier while Suresh Raina’s battle against the rising ball ended at 22 when he edged Dwayne Smith behind.
The quicks on both teams relished the conditions but the senior West Indies batsmen were unable to contribute as they imploded against Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav.
Opener Chris Gayle epitomised the inconsistency and lack of commitment that has become a hallmark of the West Indies.
Gayle crawled to two from his first 16 deliveries, during a period of four consecutive maidens in the first batting powerplay, before launching a desperate and flailing attack on the bowling that saw him dropped twice before he holed out for 21.
And he contributed to the embarrassing run out of Marlon Samuels by not running after lofting what he thought was a catch to mid on from the bowling of Yadav.
Gayle did not move from his crease while Samuels was stranded by several metres when he set off for the easy single before being forced to regain his ground.
Shami (3-25) and Yadav (2-42) confirmed that their extra pace will play a crucial part in India’s attempt to defend their crown.
