Dhoni hit three boundaries and a six during his unbeaten knock of 45
Image courtesy of: Zimbio
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni scored an unbeaten 45 to lead his side to a four-wicket win over the West Indies in a low-scoring affair in Perth.
However, West Indies skipper Jason Holder deserves some credit as well as he made a valiant 57.
Holder would not have been happy with his decision to bat first as all the West Indies batsmen, except him, were dismissed cheaply.
However, despite the major collapse going on around him, Holder kept his composure and made a career-best 57, which came off 64 balls and included four boundaries and three sixes, before he was caught by Virat Kohli at long-off off the bowling of Ravindra Jadeja.
Holder made a gutsy 57
Image courtesy of: Zimbio
It was thanks to Holder that the West Indies managed to score 182 runs before being bowled out.
Mohammed Shami was the pick of the bowlers with three wickets, while Jadeja and Umesh Yadav snapped up two wickets apiece and Ravichandran Ashwin and Mohit Sharma chipped in with one wicket each.
Shami finished with figures of 3-35 off eight overs
Image courtesy of: Zimbio
Chasing 183 to win, India experienced the same top and middle order collapse that the West Indies did, which led to them being reduced to 134/6.
Despite all the main batsmen failing to stamp their authority on the match, Dhoni stepped up and clubbed 45 runs off 56 balls, which included three boundaries and a six, to lead India to victory.
Jerome Taylor and Andre Russell took two wickets apiece, while Kemar Roach and Dwayne Smith claimed one wicket each.
Holder was disappointed to have lost, and said: “No regrets about batting first. Always thought it would be a good wicket. We lost early momentum, and it was difficult to recover. We didn’t apply ourselves well enough when we batted and we never really caught up in the game. Batting out the overs was my plan, but I still thought we needed runs to have a chance, unfortunately I gave it away at the end. We need to string together a complete game.”
Dhoni was pleased with the win, and said: “I think it was a difficult wicket, even initially with the new ball. There was some variable bounce, it was doing a bit. It settled down later, there was some swing for the West Indies bowlers as well, with the new ball. Our bowlers didn’t try too much, they stuck to their line and length. It had a bit more bounce, we gave quite a few wides bowling bouncers, but we also got wickets with the bouncer, so I’m very happy with our performance. It is a difficult target because you don’t know whether to go and play your shots. It was a good chance to test out lower middle order. Ashwin played well, Jadeja will have to step up, I feel. The last time we were in New Zealand, there were true wickets. We’ll have to see what kind of wickets are provided, but generally the ball comes on and there is some bounce. Generally the grounds are small so that is one area where we will have to adjust.”
Shami was named Man of the Match.