India set up quarters clash with Aussies

Lily

B.R
Staff member
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Chennai: India scripted an 80-run win over the West Indies, riding on Yuvraj Singh's yet another allround display at the Chepauk stadium yesterday. Man of the Match Singh not only ended his century drought, getting his first ton after 2009 and after a wait of 35 innings but he also provided vital breakthroughs by bagging two wickets.

Yuvraj's 113 runs were studded with 10 boundaries and two sixes and his 123-run partnership with Virat Kohli (59) guided India to a challenging total.

India will now meet Australia in Ahmedabad in the second quarter-final on March 24, while West Indies take on Pakistan in Mirpur in the first quarterfinal on March 23.

West Indies, after igniting hopes of a victory through a few steady partnerships at the top, fell way short of the target.

The efforts of pacer Ravi Rampaul, who bowled brilliantly to bag five wickets for 51 runs, too went in vain. Opener Devon Smith, who hit an elegant 81 runs of 97 balls, and Ramnaresh Sarwan with 39 tried to pull their team close to victory, but in the end they failed.

Harder wicket

Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni elected to bat first on a wicket which looked harder than the previous two games.

Rampaul, who opened the bowling attack, proved with the very first ball that the wicket was indeed hard with a wide bouncer over the wicketkeeper. With the last ball of that over he silenced the cheering Chennai crowd through a short pitched delivery to Sachin Tendulkar, who stabbed at it but landed up popping a catch to the wicketkeeper. Though the umpire ruled him not out, a sporting Tendulkar walked.

Virat Kohli, who may not have been in the playing 11 and regained his No. 3 slot due to a knee injury to Virender Sehwag, utilised the opportunity. With Gautam Gambhir, he added 43 runs in 7.3 overs when Gambhir became another Rampaul victim.

Dhoni lasted only 30 balls and hit 22 runs. His wicket fell at a time when India should have accelerated the run rate. After this, India began to lose wickets like in Nagpur against South Africa. Suresh Raina who made his World cup debut, and Yousuf Pathan failed, scoring just 4 and 11 runs respectively.

West Indies, chasing a run rate of 5.45, began correctly but lost their plans half way through. Though Smith, Devon Bravo and Ramnaresh Sarwan settled down, they failed to convert them into match winning knocks.

Zaheer Khan chipped in with three wickets while local boy R. Ashwin too bagged two wickets.

Scoreboard

India

* G. Gambhir c Russell b Rampaul 22
* S. Tendulkar c Thomas b Rampaul 2
* V. Kohli b Rampaul 59
* Yuvraj Singh c and b Pollard 113
* M. Dhoni st Thomas b Bishoo 22
* S. Raina c Rampaul b Sammy 4
* Y. Pathan b Rampaul 11
* Harbhajan Singh c Pollard b Russell 3
* R. Ashwin not out 10
* Z. Khan b Rampaul 5
* M. Patel b Russell 1
* Extras (b-5 lb-2 w-9) 16
* Total (all out; 49.1 overs) 268
* Fall of wickets: 1-8 2-51 3-173 4-218 5-232 6-240 7-251 8-259 9-267
* Bowling: Rampaul 10-0-51-5 (1w), Benn 4-0-32-0, Russell 9.1-1-46-2 (2w), Sammy 6-0-35-1 (1w), Bishoo 10-0-48-1, Pollard 10-0-49-1 (1w)

West Indies

* D. Smith b Khan 81
* K. Edwards lbw b Ashwin 17
* D. Bravo c Harbhajan Singh b Raina 22
* R. Sarwan c Ashwin b Khan 39
* K. Pollard c Pathan b Harbhajan Singh 1
* D. Thomas st Dhoni b Yuvraj Singh 2
* D. Sammy run out 2
* A. Russell c Pathan b Yuvraj Singh 0
* S. Benn c Patel b Khan 3
* D. Bishoo not out 6
* R. Rampaul b Ashwin 1
* Extras: (lb-8 w-6) 14
* Total: (all out; 43 overs) 188
* Fall of wickets: 1-34 2-91 3-154 4-157 5-160 6-162 7-165 8-179 9-182
* Bowling: Ashwin 10-0-41-2 (1w), Khan 6-0-26-3 (2w), Harbhajan 9-1-35-1 (1w), Pathan 7-0-28-0, Raina 2-0-12-1, Yuvraj Singh 4-0-18-2, Patel 5-0-20-0 (1w).

Quarter-finals:

* March 23: Pakistan v West Indies - Mirpur
* March 24: Australia v India - Ahmedabad
* March 25: New Zealand v South Africa - Mirpur
* March 26: Sri Lanka v England - Colombo.


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