| ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup, Old Trafford, Manchester |
| India 268-7 (50 overs): Kohli 72, Dhoni 56*, Roach 3-36 |
| West Indies 143 (34.2 overs): Ambris 31, Shami 4-16, Bumrah 2-9 |
| India won by 125 runs |
Men in blue moved a step closer to the World Cup semi-finals and ended West Indies’ slim hopes of qualifying with a 125-run crushing victory at Old Trafford.
India innings
India coming into this match after a hard fought victory over Afghanistan. Virat Kohli won the toss and elected to bat first. Once again Rohit Sharma (18 runs from 23 balls) failed to convert his start into a good score as he falls to Roach.
Once again Kholi(72 from 82) and Rahul(48 from 64) started to build a nice partnership, No.1 Ranked batsmen looked comfortable against West Indies bowling attack as he smashing them with his trademark cut and pull shots. West Indies captain strikes back with two wickets by claiming Kholi and Rahul and Roach follows with another two by claiming Shankar and Jadhav.
Indian batting looked little shaky after losing 5 wickets. But India’s two power hitters Dhoni( 56 not out) and Pandya(46 from 38)lead their side to a decent total of 268-7.
West Indies chase
West Indies lost a nail biter against New Zealand in their last outing and this is a must-win game for them to stay alive in the competition.
West Indies took a steady approach while chasing a moderate total of 269 against disciplined Indian bowling attack. But none of their batsmen were able to convert their starts to a match-winning score and they kept losing wickets at regular intervals. After claiming a match-winning Hat-trick in the last outing, Shami impressed with 4/16 and Bumrah (2/9) looked solid with the ball 2/9.
Overall it’s an easy & comprehensive win for the newly crowned No.1 ranked Indian side, who moved to second place in the standings and are 1 point shy of confirming semi-final spot. With the loss, the West Indies team certain to miss semi-final again.
India will play against the host nation England in their next match on 30th June at Edgbaston, while West Indies will play against Sri Lanka on 1st July at Riverside ground.
What Captains said?
West Indies captain Jason Holder: “We have let ourselves down significantly in this tournament.
“The bowlers had a reasonable campaign but our batting has been too inconsistent.
“I couldn’t ask for more but we let ourselves down with the bat. This is our weakest format of the three.”
India captain Virat Kohli: “We have players who play instinctive cricket and MS Dhoni is one guy in the middle who knows what a par score is on this pitch.
“He can play calculated cricket, that’s his strength, and he finds a way of winning. He is a legend of the game.
“We feel we can win from any situation.”
