DHAKA: India put up yet another clinical display to tank defending champions West Indies with a commanding seven-wicket victory in a group league encounter to brighten their chance of a semifinal berth in the World Twenty20, here on Sunday.
It was an all-round performance from India as they first restricted the West Indies to a modest 129/7 and then knocked off the runs with two balls to spare.
Yuvraj Singh (10) was a bit scratchy in the end but Raina finished with a square cut off Sunil Narine.
Virat Kohli, in the middle of a great patch, again batted well to smash his way to 54 while Rohit Sharma did his cause no harm by notching up an unbeaten 62.
Virat faced 41 balls hitting five fours and a six while Rohit’s knock contained five fours and two sixes in 55 balls.
This was after Indian spinners led by Man-of-the-Match Amit Mishra kept the West Indies batting under check. This was also the first time that India beat West Indies at a World T20 event.
With back-to-back wins over Pakistan and West Indies, India are now on top of Group 2 and a win over Bangladesh would earn them a last-four berth for the first time since the inaugural edition in 2007.
The chase was delayed by 10 minutes due to a confusion about the target. But once the match started, the only blip was Shikhar Dhawan (0) being adjudged lbw off leg-break bowler Samuel Badree.
Kohli and Rohit were not in a mood to delay the proceedings as they tore apart the West Indies bowlers with some clean hitting.
Earlier, India’s spinners again put on a dominating show as they restricted the Windies to a modest total.
Mishra was the pick of the bowlers with fantastic figures of 2-18.
Ravindra Jadeja (3/48) took some stick from Lendl Simmons (27) but should also be lauded for getting important breakthroughs. India’s spin trio accounted for six of the seven wickets that fell in the innings. (PTI)
Brief scores:
WI: 129/7, 20 overs (C Gayle 34; R Jadeja 3-48, A Mishra 2-18)
Ind: 130/3, 19.4 overs (R Sharma 62*, V Kohli 54; A Russell 1-12)