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World Cup 2015: Uneasy come easy go

India huff and puff in pursuit of 183 to win by four wickets against the West Indies * Shami (3/35), Dhoni (45*) shine * Defending champions remain unbeaten to enter quarterfinals

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Easy isn't always good. Easy doesn't test you. Easy doesn't bring the best out of you. Easy makes the future difficult. Thank God India didn't have it easy at the WACA on Friday.

On a pitch that evoked memories of its storied past by dishing out a buffet of snorters and bouncers, both sets of pacers had a field day as the World Cup witnessed a cracker of a low-scoring contest. A rich haul of 16 wickets, only 367 runs and many a pendulum swing later, it was Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his cool-headed approach that helped India trump the West Indies by four wickets.

First, let's get the numbers out of the way.

Victory saw India extend their vice-like grip on Group 'B' by another few days. In addition to this, it gave the Men in Blue their eighth straight win in World Cup play, a streak dating back to March 20, 2011. Incidentally, this run started with an 80-run triumph against the same team in Chennai. Why, it also equalled the wondrous march of Sourav Ganguly's 'Class of 2003'. That's not all. Dhoni became the most successful Indian ODI skipper of all time, beating Mohammad Azharuddin's record of 91 wins. He also became the Indian captain with the best away record in this format (59), eclipsing Ganguly. Needless to say, India became the second team after New Zealand to book a place in the quarterfinals.

It wasn't a great match in the qualitative sense, but it made for absorbing viewing all the same. The 17,557 fans and their rousing Mexican waves only added to the sense of revelry. It was an out-and-out festival of fast bowling, exhibited first by Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav and Mohit Sharma, and later by Jerome Taylor, Kemar Roach and Andre Russell. Together, they sent down 51 of the 83.3 overs bowled, picked up 11 wickets besides accounting for 32 sundries.

So impressive was the Indian pace troika that it used the juicy strip in a manner akin to Test cricket. Long run-ups, reservoirs of energy, huge slip cordons, ducks, heaves, oohs and aahs — there was everything but white clothing. Put into bowl by Jason Holder, Dhoni gave his bowlers the two new white balls and, with it, the licence to intimidate. What else could he have done at the WACA?

So shambolic was the West Indian top-order that in spite of boasting names like Chris Gayle, Dwayne Smith and Marlon Samuels, the scoreboard read 35/3 at the end of the ninth over. Gayle resembled a tail-ender for the better part of his 27-ball stay. Save a few big hits that smelt of desperation than authority, his horrific run against India ended when he skied Shami, easily the best bowler of the day, to Mohit for 21. That's all he made after enjoying three lives.

There was more listless batting when Denesh Ramdin fell for a first-ball duck to Yadav. Wickets continued to fall in a heap and the West Indies threatened to do a UAE by getting bowled out for 100 or thereabouts. That they posted 182 after being reduced to 85/7 and 124/8 had to do with an enterprising 57 from Holder. Shami finished with 3/35, inclusive of two maiden overs.

Back to the good-it-wasn't-easy part.

After three straightforward wins where they were seldom tested for more than a few passages of play, India looked set to taste their first defeat of the tournament. But the coming to form of Dhoni spared them the embarrassment of a loss against the run of play. When Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan came to chase 183, the floodlights and a gentle breeze brought swing into the equation. Taylor did exactly what Shami & Co. did and reduced India to 20/2 in the seventh over.

Virat Kohli strode out like a tiger and batted like one for the next 51 minutes. Cautious to begin with, he caressed Holder through the cover region for a boundary. A hit to midwicket fetched him his third boundary before consecutive fours off Taylor -- both clips to the midwicket fence -- took him to 30 off as many deliveries. A smartly bowled short ball, which led to the fall of several batsmen on the day, also did Kohli in. All he managed was a top-edge off Russell to long leg.

Ajinkya Rahane, who was a mute admirer all along, became Roach's first and only victim when he fell to a contentious caught-behind decision. The batsman, who reviewed the umpire's decision, received no favours from the third umpire even though the snickometer failed to establish if it was the ball hitting the bat or the bat hitting the pad.

Suresh Raina hopped and skipped his way to a run-a-ball 22. But he went after a harmless delivery from Dwayne Smith to make it 107/5. The skipper's new partner, Ravindra Jadeja, hung around rather uneasily, but his 13 runs mattered a lot. And when he fell to the pull, India were still 49 away.

Dhoni found an able ally in R Ashwin. As always, he soaked in the pressure and took India home. He scored 12 fewer than his counterpart, but crucially enough he stayed there till the end. The run-rate wasn't a factor. The need of the hour was application. Dhoni ticked all the required boxes

NZONE

13
No. of wickets taken by India using the short ball this World Cup so far, which is the most by any team. Australia have taken eight wickets with the bouncer, while Pakistan and South Africa have taken seven each

9
No. of years since India have bowled out the opposition in four consecutive ODIs. India have done so in the first four games of this World Cup -- against Pakistan, South Africa, the UAE and the West Indies

5
No. of times that the West Indies have been bowled out in a World Cup match against India, the most by them against any team. They've been bowled out four times against England and Australia in World Cups

12
No. of runs scored by India in the first five overs, their second-lowest against the Windies since 2001 and the lowest when chasing. India's lowest five-over score against the West Indies was 11/0 in June 2002

DID YOU KNOW?
MS Dhoni is now the most successful Indian ODI skipper of all time, beating Mohammad Azharuddin's record of 91 wins. Dhoni also has 59 ODI wins away from home, the most by an Indian captain. He went past Sourav Ganguly's 58 victories

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