Mumbai: Team India – so far unbeaten in the ICC World Cup 2015 – will take on West Indies at Perth on Friday. The last time the two teams met, the Caribbeans gave the defending champions tense moments and did what they do best, throw away the contest being inches away from the podium.
Having wrapped up the dangerous Indian batting for only 268 (thanks to Ravi Rampaul's fifer), the Caribbeans – after being 154/3 at one stage – could not make a match out of it. Chasing the total, Devon Smith (81) was the sole batsman who fought tooth and nail with the veteran Ramnaresh Sarwan showing some resistance with a fighting 39.
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Sarwan was past his prime and no more had the agility that of a finisher.
Zaheer Khan, Ravichandran Ashwin ensured India a comfortable victory with three-for and a two-wicket haul respectively.
Yuvraj Singh, apart from scoring a hundred (113), picked up a couple too.
Apart from Yuvraj, Virat Kohli had scored a fine half-century (59) for Team India. Four years went in between, the West Indian team still look as inconsistent as ever. It seems the crackers are going to be piled once again.
Can the West Indians take advantage of one more ‘mauka’?
Brief scores: India 268 all out in 49.1 overs (Y Singh 113, V Kohli 59; R Rampaul 5/51) beat West Indies 188 all out in 43 overs (D Smith 8, R Sarwan 39; Z Khan 3/26, R Ashwin 2/41, Y Singh 2/18)
