Windies crumble against India

MANCHESTER, England (AP):

Mohammed Shami only got a start at the ICC World Cup because India teammate Bhuvneshwar Kumar was injured.

After finishing off contrasting victories over Afghanistan and the Windies within a week, Shami may just have secured his spot.

He certainly finished off the Windies, taking 4-16 at Old Trafford yesterday to seal India’s 125-run win for India and end any hope the Caribbean team had of making the semi-finals.

It was a dismal end for the Windies – dismissed for 143 in the 35th over chasing 263 to win – after a promising start to the tournament.

For India, it was a fifth win from six games – one was washed out against New Zealand – and a rebound in form following a close call against Afghanistan last Saturday when it took Shami’s hat trick in the last over to seal a nervy victory.

HIGHEST SCORE

Skipper Virat Kohli posted the highest score of the game, 72 from 82 balls, to collect a fourth consecutive half-century and a man-of-the-match award.

“These haven’t been massive scoring games, but we’ve found ways of winning,” Kolhi said. “Fielders ... putting bodies on the line, showing their desperation to win. The opposition feels like this team is here to win.

“A lot of self-belief in the team room right now – we feel like we can win from any situation.”

It was a fifth loss in six games for the West Indians since a commanding opening win over Pakistan, and it makes them the third team to drop out of play-offs contention, along with Afghanistan and South Africa. They’ve still got games against Sri Lanka and Afghanistan to go.

The Windies bowling attack did its job, with recalled veteran Kemar Roach taking 3-36, skipper Jason Holder snaring 2-33, and Sheldon Cottrell taking two late wickets to return 2-50.

LET DOWN

“We have let ourselves down significantly in this tournament,” Holder said in a post-match TV interview. “The bowlers had a reasonable campaign, but our batting has been too inconsistent ... . we let ourselves down with the bat.”

India got valuable contributions from MS Dhoni, with an unbeaten 56, and a 70-run stand with Hardik Pandya (46) and KL Rahul (48) to back up Kohli.

Dhoni did get the benefit of a massive reprieve on eight when wicketkeeper Shai Hope twice made a mess of what should have been a routine stumping and added another 48 runs to the detriment of the Windies bowlers. He capped his first half-century of the tournament with a pair of sixes and a boundary in India’s last over.

Where the India batsmen grafted in the conditions, the West Indian batsmen didn’t last long enough to really settle after opening bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Shami got on top with their pace and seam movement.

Shami was India’s pace spearhead at the 2015 World Cup but slipped in the pecking order with the emergence of Bumrah and Kumar. The 28-year-old right-armer was drafted in as the new-ball bowler when Kumar injured a hamstring, and with eight wickets in two games, he’ll be hard to dislodge as a new-ball bowler.

Shami dismissed Chris Gayle (6) and No. 3 Shai Hope (5) in his opening spell, and after an innings-building 55-run partnership between Nicholas Pooran (28) and Sunil Ambris (31), it all went downhill for West Indies.

SCOREBOARD

INDIA

KL Rahul b Holder 48

R Sharma c wkp Hope b Roach 18

*V Kohli c sub (DM Bravo) b Holder 72

V Shankar c wkp Hope b Roach 14

K Jadhav c wkp Hope b Roach 7

+MS Dhoni not out 56

H Pandya c Allen b Cottrell 46

M Shami c wkp Hope b Cottrell 0

K Yadav not out 0

Extras (b1, w6) 7

TOTAL (7 wkts, 50 overs) 268

Did not bat: Y Chahal, J Bumrah

Fall of wickets: 1-29 (Sharma, 6 overs), 2-98 (Rahul, 20.4), 3-126 (Shankar, 26.1), 4-140 (Jadhav, 28.5), 5-180 (Kohli, 38.2), 6-250 (Pandya, 48.2), 7-252 (Shami, 48.5)

Bowling: Cottrell 10-0-50-2 (w2), Roach 10-0-36-3, Thomas 7-0-63-0 (w2), Allen 10-0-52-0, Holder 10-2-33-2, Brathwaite 3-0-33-0 (w2).

WEST INDIES

C Gayle c Jadhav b Mohammed Shami 6

S Ambris lbw b Pandya 31

+S Hope b Mohammed Shami 5

N Pooran c Mohammed Shami b Kuldeep 28

S Hetmyer c Rahul b Mohammed Shami 18

*J Holder c Jadhav b Chahal 6

C Brathwaite c wkp Dhoni b Bumrah 1

F Allen lbw b Bumrah 0

K Roach not out 14

S Cottrell lbw b Chahal 10

O Thomas c Rohit b Mohammed Shami 6

Extras (b9, lb3, w5, nb1) 18

TOTAL (all out, 34.2 overs) 143

Fall of wickets: 1-10 (Gayle, 4.5 overs), 2-16 (Hope, 6.5), 3-71 (Ambris, 19), 4-80 (Pooran, 20.2), 5-98 (Holder, 23.5), 6-107 (Brathwaite, 26.1), 7-107 (Allen, 26.2), 8-112 (Hetmyer, 28.3), 9-124 (Cottrell, 29.5), 10-143 (Thomas, 34.2)

Bowling: Shami 6.2-0-16-4 (w1), Bumrah 6-1-9-2, Pandya 5-0-28-1 (nb1), Kuldeep 9-1-35-1 (w2), Jadhav 1-0-4-0, Chahal 7-0-39-2.

Result: India won by 125 runs.

Points: India 2, West Indies 0.

Man-of-the-Match: Virat Kohli.

Toss: India.

Umpires: Richard Kettleborough, Richard Illingworth; TV – Michael Gough.