India remains undefeated as the road for West Indies in this World Cup is officially over. Although Virat Kohli’s team faced some difficulties in the middle order, they bounced back and finally, the bowling pack once again did it for India. On the other hand, West Indies faced the 5th loss of the tournament to bid adieu. Here are some highlights of India vs West Indies World cup 2019.
The captains led, yet again
Kohli and runs seem like two sides of the same coin. India vs West Indies World cup 2019 match yet again witnessed him delivering a steady and stylish show. Rohit Sharma got a dubious out and KL Rahul once again failed to capitalize on a good start.
Rahul scored 48 runs and was gone with India’s score on 98/2. Kohli was already at the crease and soon started playing according to the situation.
The intention was to build on a good start but the middle order lacked stability. Vijay Shankar (14) and Kedar Jadhav (7) were dismissed and India were 140/4.
Dhoni walked in and although started pretty slowly provided the necessary support to the skipper. Dhoni scored 56 runs and captain Kohli added 72 runs to help India put up a decent show.
The partnership of 70 runs between Dhoni and Hardik saw the latter dominating with a cameo of 46 runs. Eventually, India ended the innings on 268/7.
Kohli’s crown got another feather
Virat Kohli needed 37 runs to register 20000 international runs when he walked in to bat against West Indies. He scored the same and completed 20000 international runs in 417 innings.
He became the fastest to reach the milestone by surpassing joint holders of the record Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar. Both took 453 runs each for the same.
Kohli became the 12th batsman to do so and third Indian. Earlier Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid achieved the feat. Currently, captain Kohli has now 11124 runs in ODIs, and 6613 in test and 2263 runs in T20I to his name.
Roach Show by West Indies
In India vs West Indies match, Kemar Roach was the star performer for West Indies as he delivered a good spell to scalp three by just conceding 36 runs in his 10 overs.
Roach took the major wickets of Rohit Sharma, Kedar Jadhav, and Vijay Shankar. But Oshane Thomas had a terrible day.
One of the most consistent bowlers of this tournament conceded 63 runs in his 7 overs including 16 runs in the last over and failed to take any wicket. Jason Holder and Sheldon Cottrell took two each.
Lack of stability
India vs West Indies world cup 2019 match witnessed a tough pitch. The struggle of Indian batsmen to earn showed proved obvious. So chasing 269 was not a cakewalk. It required a solid base, stable middle order, one or two big knocks and partnerships.
And West Indies lacked at all departments. The highest score came from Sunil Ambris. He added only 31 runs. The highest partnership of 55 runs was between Ambris and Shai Hope where Hope contributed with just five runs in India vs West Indies World cup 2019.
They lost wickets at regular intervals. In fact, they lost two wickets with the scoreboard reading 107 in the 27th over. Finally, West Indies innings ended on 143 in 34.2 overs.
Shami & Bumrah- the lethal combination
Mohammed Shami once again delivered at his best. He started off brilliant to pick up Chris Gayle at the earliest. Then Shai Hope was sent back to the pavilion with arguably one of the best deliveries of this tournament.
He came back later to register his second consecutive four-wicket haul and ended with 6.2-0-16-4. Jasprit Bumrah, on the other hand, was lethal. He was brilliant as ever and was on a hat-trick at one stage. The 27th over of West Indies innings saw Bumrah scalping Ambris and Hope on two consecutive deliveries.
Them Roach walked in to face a slower Yorker and somehow managed to dig out. Unfortunately, Bumrah missed registering the third hat-trick by an Indian in World Cup.
But the way he is going, it looks like a matter of time only. Indian spinners also were on the money and shared three wickets.