When India played West Indies in the Group B match, the pressure was more on the Caribbean as they needed to stay alive in the quarter final race. Considering batting as their strength, at bouncy pitch of Perth they elected to bat. But Indian bowlers continued to surprise making West Indies the fourth consecutive team to be bowled out in 4 matches. The sight of a frustrated Gayle is rare. Indian opening bowlers achieved that. West Indies bowler did test Indian batting, but the helicopter man Dhoni played a very different inning taking India to Quarterfinal with finally an easy looking 4 wicket win.
World Cup 2015: Schedules and Results
Statistics
MOM: Shami
World Cup record
- India wins third consecutive match vs West Indies to lead 5-3 in World Cup rivalry.
5th time West Indies is bowled out by India at World Cup, a record for WI against any country.
Team record
- 2nd time for India after 2006 when they have bowled out 4 teams consecutively in ODIs.
Batting
- 279 runs make Gayle the top scorer of the World Cup so far.
57 by Captain Holder, his 2nd 50 of this World Cup, was the only 50+ score of the match.
Unbeaten 45 by Captain Dhoni was India’s highest individual score.
6s: 5 by WI (3 by Holder), 1 by India (Dhoni)
Bowling
- 13 wickets taken by bouncers of Indian bowlers is the most by bowlers of any team in World Cup 2015.
Most Successful: 3/35 Shami
Most Economical: 3.24 Jadeja (2/27 in 8.2)
Maidens: 5 Ind (2 each Shami & Umesh, 1 Mohit) , 1 WI (Roach)
West Indies Succumb to 182
Despite all familiarity with Indian bowling, West Indies opener Gayle and Co failed to handle the exceptional Indian bowling. The openers Dwayne Smith and Gayle could hardly score against Shami and Umesh Yadav. Smith (6) was the first to go caught behind by Dhoni as Shami struck in 5th over. In 8th over, Gayle’s fault made Samuels (2) the victim of run out.
From there on Gayle appeared a distraught man. He attempted to hit every ball. He reached 21 in 27 balls with a six and a four when trying to hit another boundary in 9th over he was caught by Mohit Sharma on the bowling of Shami. Umesh Yadav bowled Ramdin (0) in the next over and West Indies were 4/35 in 10th over. They lost Simmons (9), Carter (21) and Russell (8) to reach 85/7 in 25th over. From there on Sammy (26), Captain Holder (64-ball 57) and Taylor (11) took them to 182 in 44.2 overs.
The 5 Indian bowlers continued their dream run. Shami (3/35 in 8 overs with 2 maidens), Umesh Yadav (2/42 in 10 overs with a maiden), Ashwin (1/38 in 9 overs), Mohit Sharma (1/35 in 9 overs with 2 maidens) and Jadeja (2/27 in 8.2 overs) did not let West Indies batsmen take the charge.
Indian Chase in 40th Over
Indian openers Rohit Sharma (7) and Dhawan (9) fell to Taylor as India reached 20/2 in 7 overs. Kohli (33) and Rahane (14) too failed to take India towards a comfortable chase as by 18th over India were 78/4. The Wicket of Raina (22) in 23rd over got India to a dangerous position of 107/5.
India still needed 76 runs but had only Dhoni and Jadeja as established batsmen. Both were out of form too. Jadeja (13) continued his misery in batting, but Dhoni decided to play a different knock. Finally in 56-balls scoring 45 runs with 3 4s and a six he took India to 4 wickets win in the company of Ashwin who scored 16 runs in 32 balls.
West Indies bowlers used the bounce and pace of Perth pitch to attack Indians and succeeded too. But nobody could understand why Captain Holder asked Samuels and Smith to bowl for long when his 4 effective bowlers had plenty of overs remaining and they just needed the wicket of Dhoni to win.
Taylor (2/33 in 8) jumped to 2nd position in the bowler’s list of most wickets in World Cup 2015. Holder (0/29) and Samuels (0/10 in 3.1) were the only bowlers without wicket. Roach (1/44 in 8 overs with a maiden), Russell (2/43 in 8) used the bouncers to the best effect.
This was the first match where Indian batting was tested. Luckily captain Dhoni came to the rescue.
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