Virat Kohli’s excellent Man-of-the-Match century made the West Indies’ task difficult. A mid-afternoon shower made it even more so.
Kohli’s hundred, the first by an Indian in a One-Day International (ODI) at the Queen’s Park Oval, ensured that India also made their highest score on the ground against West Indies – 311 for 7.
In the end, the West Indies did not come close to sealing a place in the final of the Celkon Cup. They lost by 102 runs on the Duckworth/Lewis method after being dismissed by India for 171 in 34 overs, chasing a revised target of 274 in a rain-affected match at the Oval yesterday.
“I honestly thought we could have done a lot better with our run chase,” West Indies captain Dwayne Bravo said after the match. “We gotta try and regroup as a batting group and try and figure out where we went wrong.
“We have a quick turnaround. Next game on Sunday (tomorrow) is very important against the Sri Lankans and we can’t afford to make the same mistake again.”
But better batting is only half of the problem Bravo’s side must address.
While the Indians stuck to their tasks like a side desperate to stay alive in this series, the West Indies were not focused enough to repel them – with either bat or ball.
The Windies’ unpredictable batting showed its more calamitous side in the face of a target of 312 and then the revised one after mid-afternoon rain.
The first five in the order subsided for 69 runs by the 14th over to make chances of victory the stuff of hope rather than expectation. Of that lot, only Johnson Charles with a top score of 45 (66 balls) got past 10.
That the West Indies innings got as far as the 34th over was due to a spirited ninth-wicket stand of 63 – the highest of the innings – between Kemar Roach (34 not out, three fours, two sixes) and Sunil Narine (21, two sixes).
Hopes of victory had long disappeared by the time Narine and Tino Best were dismissed off successive balls by Ravindra Jadeja to end the match.
The result meant that India had gained full points plus the bonus point that keeps them in with a chance of gaining a place in next Thursday’s final.
India gave themselves every chance when they batted after Bravo inserted them.
Their innings was given a platform by openers Shikar Dhawan (69, 77 balls, eight fours, two sixes) and Rohit Sharma (46, 78 balls). Theirs were contrasting knocks that contributed to an opening partnership of 123 for the first wicket by the 24th over.
That was the highest first-wicket effort, or partnership for any wicket by India against West Indies at the Oval.
While Sharma struggled to accelerate before he edged an attempted dab at Tino Best to wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin at the start of the 30th over, Dhawan was the opposite.
The Oval pitch did not have the pace to make the early short stuff from Best and Roach meaningful, and while Darren Sammy, who opened the bowling with Best, was economical as usual (8-1-28-0), Dhawan still got many chances to show his prowess through the off-side.
Many of his 10 boundaries, sweetly timed, pierced the region forward of square and mid-off.
Dhawan was looking good for his third ODI hundred, but for once he did not miss the fielder. Off the first ball of a new Best spell, he swung straight down to Darren Bravo at deep midwicket.
Dhawan’s dismissal gave West Indies the opening they desperately sought. And from the 30th over when Sharma departed until the 42nd, the bowling team held sway.
Suresh Raina fell to a smart, low slip catch by Sammy, wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik was adjudged caught off the glove by Ramdin off Best, Murali Vijay hit a Kieron Pollard delivery into Charles’ hands at backward point and Jadeja got his signals crossed with his skipper and was run out.
But when Bravo’s counterpart, Kohli, began to change gears, Bravo and his fellow bowlers failed to improve their game.
Kohli’s 102 – off 83 balls – was his 14th ODI hundred.
