MS Dhoni won the toss and seeing the overcast conditions decided to field first. West Indies got off to a good start as Gayle storm was hitting India quite badly till Bhuvaneshwar Kumar struck for India in the 5th over sending Gayle back to the pavilion – a huge relief for Indian bowlers. Darren Bravo was the new batsmen at the crease, he along with Johnson Charles stitched a solid partnership of 78 runs before he was caught by Jadeja in front of the stumps, which looked like absolutely plumb. Samuels then arrived at the crease but his presence was as short as a 2 minute maggi, again a LBW shout but Umpire denies it so Dhoni decide to review it and what a vision from captain as replay clearly showed the ball hitting the stumps and Umpire was forced to reverse his decision. An experienced Sarwan came to the crease but it seemed like he just came for a walk as he too fell to Jadeja. Jadeja was proving why he is called Sir RavindraJadeja as he was strikingregualarly for the last 3 overs, first Charles then Samules and now Sarwan. Suddenly West Indies fell from 102/1 to 109/4, they lost 3 wickets for a mere 7 runs.
It was the captain Dwayne Bravo who came to join other Bravo at the crease. Bravo brothers were like seeing Indies home till the time Darren Bravo did some non-sense and was sent back to the pavilion by Dhoni-Ashwin duo. Kieron Pollard joined captain at the crease but this pair did no good as Bravo fell to Yadav in the 38th over and Pollard was next to go as he followed his captain after he mistimed a shot and was taken at long on boundary. Narine and Rampaul too fell quickly leaving West Indies to their own good. Last pair of Sammy and Roach was at the crease, it was looking like West Indies will not reach even 200 but thanks to a sensational Sammy fifty which edged West Indies to a respectable total of 233/9 in 50 overs.
All India need to do was to get this target of 234 in 50 overs and reserve their place in the semis. It was not a difficult task for an inform and confident Indian batting line-up who has been making 300+ scores in their last 3 matches.
India got off to a thunder start with Rohit Sharma and ShikharDhawan putting up a 100 run opening stand but just after the 100 run partnership, Sharma nicked one to Charles off Narine. India was in a very comfortable position as Kohli arrived at the crease to join Dhawan. Both of them played some nice shots before Narine took one more as Kohli stumps were knocked out. India were suddenly 2 down for 128, in the very next over Karthik was given out by umpire but India reviewed it and it was clearly shown that there was no edge as ball passed the bat- Karthik survived. At this stage India was far above the required run rate needing 102 runs off last 29 overs. Karthik and Dhawan played some nice shots seeing India home quite early in the 40th over as Dhawan struck a memorable century and with this goes Pakistan hopes of continuing further in the tournament.
Congratulations to India for their win which they thoroughly deserved, as to how they approached this game. Jadeja once again proved his value to the side
West Indies next take on South Africa on June 14 while India go up against Pakistan the following day which is now just a formality. With Pakistan already out of the tournament, eyes will be on the match between South Africa and West Indies as it will decide the 2nd team from group B. It will be a DO or DIE for both the teams.
West Indies233/9 in 50 overs were not enough against a strong Indian batting who easily chased down the total in mere 39.1 overs beating West Indies by 8 wickets, India236/2 in 39.1overs. India with this win confirmed their place into the semi-finals thrashing arch-rivals Pakistan out of the competition.
Man of the Match: RavindraJadeja for his sensational bowling figures of 5/36 in 10 overs which restricted West Indies from putting a huge total on the board.
Match stas:
- ShikharDhawan struck his 3rd consecutive century for India.
- India will be the first team to make their place into the semifinals of the ICC Champions Trophy 2013.
- Jadeja took his first 5-wicket haul for India.