Mirpur: Chasing West Indies' 130 run targert, India lost Dhawan early in the first over. But Rohit and Virat Kohli did not waste too much of time before they started to play the big shots. India were 48/1 by the end of powerplay overs.
Any of the West Indies failed to trouble the pair of Rohit and Kohli. By the end of 11 overs, India were 80/1, 50 runs away from the victory. Both — Virat and Rohit scored half-centuries with as India went smoothly in their chase. India lost Kohli when they were 23 runs away from the target. But that did not cause much trouble.
India eventually crossed the West Indies’ total in 19.4 overs and sealed their second win in a row in this edition of ICC World T20. This victory was India’s first over West Indies in ICC World T20. India nexr face Bangladesh on March 28.
Earlier, India won the toss and elected to bowl first against West Indies. MS Dhoni made no changes in the team that beat Pakistan in the previous game. West Indies started off slowly with Dwayne Smith failing to pick which way the ball was swinging. Gayle was watchful before he launched into attack in Mohammad Shami’s second over.
Dwayne Smith inning came to an end when Ashwin took a neat catch on his bowling. Gayle and Samuels added a few runs. But West Indies’ inning fail to take off. Then, Gayle was run-out in the 13th over by Mohammad Shami. Samuels and Dwayne Bravo then got out on back to back deliveries in Mishra in the 15th over of the inning. West Indies were 74/4 then. Amit Mishra had another impressive outing with the ball with the spell that read 4-0-18-2. He won his second man of the match award in as many games in ICC World T20 2014.
West Indies eventually managed to put up 130 runs in their 20 overs thanks to a 22-run last over bowled by Ravindra Jadeja. But unfortunatley, West Indies inning failed to find any consistency throughout their inning. If West Indies fail to gather themselves in the games ahead, their dream to successfully defend their title won't come true.
SCOREBOARD
West Indies: Dwayne Smith c & b Ashwin 11, Gayle run out (Dhoni /Shami) 34, Samuels st Dhoni b Mishra 18, Lendl Simmons c Dhawan b Jadeja 27, Bravo lbw b Mishra 0, Sammy c Sharma b Jadeja 11, Russell c Kohli b Jadeja 7, Narine (not out) 7, Denesh Ramdin (not out) 0. Extras (lb 1, w 12, nb 1) 14. Total (for seven wickets in 20 overs) 129.
FoW: 1-38, 2-62, 3-74, 4-74, 5-97, 6-108, 7-121.
Bowling: Kumar 3-0-3-0, Shami 3-0-27-0, Ashwin 4-0-24-1, Mishra 4-0-18-2, Raina 2-0-8-0, Jadeja 4-0-48-3.
India: Rohit Sharma (not out) 62, Shikhar Dhawan lbw b Badree 0, Virat Kohli b Russell 54, Yuvraj Singh c Gayle b Samuels 10, Suresh Raina (not out) 1. Extras (w 2, nb 1) 3. Total (for three wickets in 19.4 overs) 130.
FoW: 1-1, 2-107, 3-129.
Bowling: Badree 4-0-28-1, Santokie 4-0-27-0, Narine 4-0-20-0, Dwyane Bravo 1-0-12-0, Sammy 1-0-9-0, Samuels 3.4-0-22-1, Russell 2-0-12-1.
