As it happened: Dhawan, Karthik lead India to eight-wicket win

CLICK HERE FOR THE DETAILED SCORECARD 2158 IST 39.1 overs. India 236-2. And there’s the four that takes Karthik to his fifty and India to a comfortable 8-wicket win. The result means that Pakistan have no chance of making it to the semis – India have knocked them out of the reckoning.2158 IST 39 overs. India 232-2. Dhawan wasn’t going to let anyone stop him from getting his ton. A six over third man… super stuff and then the trademark celebration with arms stretched. Stunning knock.

2158 IST 37 overs. India 219-2. India need 15 runs to win. Dhawan needs 6 runs to get his second century of the tournament. 2214 IST Game to resume at 2230 IST if there is no more rain. No overs lost. Dhawan will have a chance to get his ton.

2158 IST 35.1 overs. India 204-2. Rain and the covers are on. Players are going off. India are way ahead on D/L. So no real problem. 2138 IST 31 overs. India 182-2. India’s slow and steady march to victory. Dhawan has 85 and Karthik has 16. West Indies need a miracle of sorts. 2113 IST 26 overs. India 163-2. Dhawan 77, Karthik 6. India are making this look easy – and in conditions that are not typically English, West Indies lack the bowlers to get the wickets. 2105 IST 23 overs. India 150-2. Dhawan 70, Karthik 0. Roach had a good day against Pakistan at the Oval. But today, he has been all over the place and even dropped catches. Dhawan helped himself to two fours off the first two balls of the over. India’s first 50 runs came in 46 balls, the second fifty also came in 46 balls and the third has come in 44 balls. 2056 IST 21 overs. India 132-2. Karthik was given out by umpire Dar but then he was saved by DRS. No edge to the keeper. Rampaul is bowling a good line and length though. Another wicket and we still might have an interesting match. It didn’t look that way when Rohit and Dhawan were batting though. There has been a drizzle in the past hour and that seems to be helping the West Indies bowlers too. 2051 IST 20 overs. India 127-2. Little inside edge, crashed into the off-stump. Kohli looked pretty good while he lasted. Narine was the bowler – he came around the wicket and changed the angle. Did the trick. V Kohli b Narine 22 (18b, 4x4) 2045 IST 19 overs. India 122-1. Dhawan 50 off 45 balls, 6 fours. The perfect innings. So far. 2036 IST 17 overs. India 108-1. West Indies were 92 for 1 at this stage. But then they had that big collapse. India, if they can avoid the collapse, are still firmly in charge. Dhawan is still looking good. 2030 IST WICKET! 15.3 overs. India 101-1. DRS does the trick for the West Indies. Faint edge to the keeper, Narine and the fielder at square leg heard it and called for a review. Good innings but once again, Rohit fails to make his start really count. Rohit Sharma c Charles b Narine 52 (56b, 7x4)

  2020 IST 15 overs. India 98-0. 50 off 52 balls for Rohit Sharma, 26 dot balls, 7 fours. Is this match already over? It’s hard to see India capitulate like the West Indies. Dhawan has 46 off 36 balls. 2006 IST 12 overs. India 77-0. Dropped again! Second chance for Dhawan. It was short, he went for the hook and hit it straight to Roach at fine leg, who dropped a sitter. Poor, poor fielding.  2000 IST 10 overs. India 66-0. Dhawan and Rohit are making this look easy. And right now, West Indies have no answer. Both batsmen are scoring freely off the spinners, the medium pacers and the fast bowlers.  1946 IST 9 overs. India 59-0. Pollard couldn’t hold on to a very difficult chance (well, it was a chance because the fielder was Pollard) and then watched Dhawan smash a ball through the off-side again. 1946 IST 8 overs. India 52-0. 50 up in just 7.4 overs. Dhawan and Sharma are pretty much rocking it. Narine slowed things down a bit. 1941 IST 7 overs. India 48-0. Sharma 27, Dhawan 20. Sharma and Dhawan are matching each other stroke for stroke. This is exceptional and they are making it look easy. And these are edges. These are properly cricketing shots, straight from the middle of the bat. Sunil Narine is in next. 1929 IST 5 overs. India 32-0. India are cruising. It’s early days but India are already on top. West Indies don’t have much to play with and if they want to make a match of this, then they need a few early wickets. 1923 IST 3 overs. India 14-0. Slow, steady start for India. The good bit is that they don’t need to do any different. 1914 IST 1 over. India 5-0. Roach started off with a wide and then Rohit helped himself to a four over the close-in fielders on the on-side. 1911 IST Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan are in the middle. Kemar Roach has the ball in the hand. This should be fun. 1830 IST 50 overs: WI 233-9. What a fifty by Sammy! Even Jadeja can’t stop him. 51 runs from the last four overs and as @ESPNcricinfo says, it’s the same amount of runs they scored in the 15 overs before that. A very tricky total. The last wicket partnership: 51 runs, 4.3 overs, (Sammy 51, Roach 0). Some splendid hitting. Sammy ends up with 56 off 35, 5 fours and 4 sixes. Jadeja was the star for India yet again: 10-2-36-5. Super stuff from him. The other though could have done much better.

  1820 IST 49 overs: WI 219-9. 4-6-4 to begin the over. And they dropped Sammy. Then another 6. This is the Ishant that India fears and the opposition loves. A single off the fith ball. Ishant Sharma today: First 9 overs: 22 runs; last over: 21 runs. 1816 IST 48 overs: WI 198-9. Sammy has batted well in the last three overs to almost get West Indies to 200. This is pretty good, the battle may have been won by Sammy, but for now, it seems like the West Indies have lost the war. 1813 IST WICKET! 45.3 overs: WI 182-9. Clean bowled. Jadeja can do no wrong. Dhoni can do no wrong. India can do no wrong. And the West Indies, at least, for now, can do no right. Bad batting. The slog sweep was clearly not needed. Jadeja has 5-15. 1801 IST 43.4 overs: WI 179-8. That’s Jadeja’s fourth wicket. No one quite knows how to deal with him. Narine never had a chance there. S Narine c Karthik b Jadeja 2 (8b)   1750 IST 42.1 overs: WI 171-7. Pollard finds Bhuvneshwar in the deep and Ishant Sharma has a wicket. The right-hander got 22 and West Indies look like they will struggle to get to 200. After 19th over, West Indies were 102/1 (R/o 5.36) and that makes the fall even more stunning. K Pollard c Kumar b I Sharma 22 (32b, 2x6) 1747 IST 41 overs: WI 168-6. Slow going but West Indies don’t really have an option, they have to save wickets for the final blast. 1740 IST 40 overs: WI 165-6. West Indies are in serious trouble here. Can they even get to 220? They need runs on the board to make the Indian batsmen play outside their comfort zone. 1724 IST 37.5 overs: WI 163-6. Big wicket for India. Dwayne Bravo finds Jadeja (who else) in the deep. Umesh Yadav the bowler. Pollard is looking dangerous but can someone stay with him? D Bravo c Jadeja b Yadav 25 (40b, 3x4) 1723 IST 36 overs: WI 154-5. Pollard is up and he has hit two sixes off consecutive balls to get off the mark. Big shots. 1718 IST WICKET! 35 overs: WI 141-5. Dwayne Bravo 20, Pollard 0. India have pulled this back superbly. Pollard is still around and we are now in T20 range. If he goes a little nuts, it could make things very interesting. 1709 IST WICKET! 33.1 overs: WI 140-5. Bravo, frustrated by his inability to get the ball off the square, stepped out to Ashwin and was beaten by the turn. Dhoni completed the stumping. Easy. Darren Bravo st Dhoni b Ashwin 35 (83b, 2x4)

   1702 IST 31 overs: WI 136-4. Dwayne is trying hard to break out of the rut. Meanwhile, Darren Bravo has 33 off 77 balls – he has choked the innings. 1655 IST 29 overs: WI 128-4. Dhoni will know how dangerous Dwayne can be – he must’ve seen enough of that at CSK, which is why he will know how important it is to send him back to the hut quickly. He has taken Jadeja out of the attack – the left-arm spinner’s figures were 5-1-10-3.  1650 IST 27 overs: WI 120-4. West Indies need to rebuild now. The Bravo brothers are in the middle and it really is down to them. 1637 IST 26 overs: WI 118-4. Last 30 balls, 14 runs, 3 wickets. India are right back in this game. Batting conditions aren’t bad and West Indies will look to get at least 250. Can they? 1637 IST 24 overs: WI 109-4. Sarwan is gone now. Caught down the leg-side. Sharp catch by Dhoni. West Indies are crumbling. From 103-1 to 109-4, West Indies’ fall has been swift and brutal. RR Sarwan c †Dhoni b Jadeja 1 (6b)

   1629 IST 22 overs: WI 105-3. Samuels is also gone - trapped lbw. The original decision was not out but Dhoni and gang found out that DRS is not all bad. 1623 IST 21 overs: WI 104-2. Samuels is in and he needs to get something big today. Bravo and Samuels. 1615 IST WICKET! 19.5 overs: WI 103-2. Sir Jadeja gets Charles with a quicker one. Charles was looked to play across the line and was deceived by the pace. Big wicket. India needed this. J Charles lbw b Jadeja 60 (55b, 7x4, 2x6) 1615 IST 19 overs: WI 102-1. Charles is having some fun there. He made his reputation as a T20 batsman who can hit the ball a long way in domestic cricket. But he hasn’t quite managed to do that against the big teams in international cricket. He has 60 off 52 balls. 1612 IST 18 overs: WI 92-1. Jadeja into the attack and he starts off with a maiden. 1602 IST 17 overs: WI 92-1. And it’s drinks! Charles got to a well-deserved 50 off 46 balls, 7 fours, 1 six. He needs to makes this count now.  1602 IST 16 overs: WI 83-1. Steady stuff from India too. But a wicket will help Dhoni and Co immensely. Who can he turn too? The partnership is worth 58 runs in 66 balls. 1600 IST 15 overs: WI 80-1. Given that conditions haven’t been particularly easy for batting, this is a very good start for West Indies. This is the kind of start that can lead to trouble given the big hitters that West Indies have in their line-up. 1556 IST 14 overs: WI 75-1. Quick over by Ashwin. Charles looks very uncertain against the spinner. Good for India. 1554 IST 13 overs: WI 72-1. Virat Kohli into the attack after the last five overs were hammered for 37 runs. Not quite sure what Ishant and Umesh would be thinking at this point? Dhoni obviously feels that his main bowlers aren’t having that much of an impact. He wants to try something different. 1550 IST 12 overs: WI 67-1. Ashwin almost got Charles there. The right-hander was looking to turn the ball to the leg-side and got a leading edge. It fell inches short of Ashwin. The field restriction are now off. Bravo is much more comfortable batting against Ashwin, it might be a good idea for the West Indies to keep Charles off strike.

  1546 IST 11 overs: WI 62-1. 8 runs from the over. Wow. Suddenly, Charles is throwing his bat around and the runs are coming quite quickly. 30 runs off the last three overs. Quite a long spell for Bhuvneshwar too. Ashwin is into the attack next. 1538 IST 10 overs: WI 55-1. 13 runs off the over. Charles have moved to 22 and West Indies are taking full toll of Umesh Yadav’s pace. The fast bowler was hit for three consecutive fours off the third, fourth and fifth balls. This is suddenly looking like a decent start for the West Indies. 22 runs off the last two overs.  1526 IST 9 overs: WI 42-1. 9 runs from the over. Charles taking Bhuvi on in the last over. There hasn’t been too much movement for the Indian bowlers but they have largely kept things in check by bowling good line and length. 1532 IST 8 overs: WI 33-1. Umesh Yadav comes back into the attack and keeps things in check. Bravo needs to click for them. It is not an easy pitch to bat on and he is one of their best classical batsmen. 1528 IST 7 overs: WI 31-1. Bhuvneshwar has bowled 4 overs, given away 14 overs and got 1 wicket. He has been heads and shoulders above the other bowlers today.  1523 IST 6 overs: WI 26-1. Just one run from the Ishant over. He’s giving Bhuvi some good support now. It would have been pretty good to have Praveen Kumar from the other end though. 1519 IST WICKET! 5 overs: WI 25-1. Gayle 21 (18). Bhuvneshwar had been keeping the batsmen quiet by bowling great line and length. Then Gayle decided to disturb his length. Walked down the pitch for one ball, didn’t connect got an inside edge and two runs. The next ball was hit for four straight down the ground. And then off the last ball of the over, Bhuvneshwar got his measure of revenge. He pitched it up, got some movement and Ashwin took a sharp high catch – he was at full stretch – in the slips. Darren Bravo is in next. C Gayle c Ashwin b Kumar 21 (18b, 4x4)  1514 IST 4 overs: WI 18-0. Gayle 15, Charles 2. Good move to get Ishant into the attack. He showed more control than Umesh right upto the last ball. He pitched it up and Gayle smashed it straight down the ground for 4. It was in his zone and he just threw the bat at it – no feet movement needed. 1514 IST 3 overs: WI 13-0. Just one run from the last over. Pitch it up and you will be tough to bat against. Bhuvneshwar certainly looks well sorted. He managed to beat Gayle with a delivery that got some late movement. Ishant Sharma is into the attack next – this could be make or break. India need the seamers to strike. 1509 IST 2 overs: WI 12-0. Gayle seems to be in stand and deliver mode today. And Umesh Yadav paid the price for being far too short. Two nice four through the leg-side off shortish deliveries got Gayle up and running. He could have had a couple more but good fielding on the off side kept the runs down to a minimum. 1503 IST 1 over: WI 1-0. Gayle got hit on the thigh, then took a single to get off strike. Nothing much happened. Still early days. We haven’t seen much evidence to swing so far. 1454 IST The Indian team is on the field now. Gayle and Charles to open for the West Indies. We should be in for a very interesting first 10 overs. 1443 IST Gavaskar, on TV, feels that the pitch at the Oval will be two-paced and there won’t be too many runs scored. Let’s see how that goes. 1441 IST Squads: WI XI: C Gayle, J Charles, DM Bravo, M Samuels, R Sarwan, DJ Bravo, K Pollard, D Sammy, S Narine, K Roach, R Rampaul IND XI: S Dhawan, RG Sharma, V Kohli, D Karthik, S Raina, MS Dhoni, R Jadeja, R Ashwin, I Sharma, B Kumar, U Yadav 1437 IST And on twitter, @rgcricket tells us that winning the toss is a very good sign indeed. “India have won 22 of their last 30 ODIs that they have won toss in, losing seven with one tie.” 1429 IST This basically means Chris Gayle is up. It is overcast and it will help India’s new ball bowlers. Can they send him back early?  1425 IST TOSS: Dhoni has won the toss and India are bowling first. No changes in the Indian team. Dhoni: We had a team activity the day before – we had a paintball session and the manager was at the receiving end there. We need to get Gayle early. We have worked on our fielding a lot and the youngsters have made the difference. Bravo: We would have bowled first also. It will be a little slower. Ramdin is out. Sammy comes in. Johnson Charles is the keeper. 1352 IST A light drizzle in the air, says @the_topspin on twitter. A good toss to win? But Dhoni as usual will be hard pressed to do that.  1346 IST An overcast day with possible showers throughout. It means that the seamers will surely have a role to play in the match. For the West Indies, Denesh Ramdin will not be available for selection after he was suspended for two ODIs by the ICC for claiming ’that’ catch against Pakistan. Johnson Charles is likely to keep wickets instead. Darren Sammy or Tino Best may get a game. Meanwhile, for history buffs, India and West Indies are playing an ODI in England for the first time since the 1983 World Cup final. The match begins at 1500 hrs IST. The toss will be held at 1430 hrs IST.  Form (last 5 matches) India W-L-W-W-W West Indies W-W-W-W-L Preview [caption id=“attachment_861771” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] MS Dhoni will hope to inspire his side to victory again. AP[/caption] India’s first match of the tournament against South Africa was played in Cardiff – it was cold and there was not much swing – but this is at the Oval – there should be more help around. India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has said that his players were only focused on the ongoing Champions Trophy. “As players, we can only control the things we are able to,” Dhoni said ahead of his team’s second group league encounter against the West Indies at the Oval tomorrow. “We don’t get to read newspapers and there are no channels. So we are not disturbed here. We can focus on cricket and do our own team exercises.” However, Dhoni feels that despite the conditions promising to help seamers, there will be assistance for the spinners too. “This Oval wicket is a used one. There is a bit of grass and there will be a bit of bounce too. The fast bowlers will get some assist but since this is an old wicket, there will be spin as well,” Dhoni said. West Indies coach Ottis Gibson, on the other hand, said the IPL stars are expected to provide “intelligence” on the Indian players in their team meeting as he admitted that the Twenty20 league inputs will play a crucial factor for the Calypso Charmers. “Well, that’s one of the key things, I think. Everybody has got video of each other now. We watch so much footage of each other, but we also have a lot of our players mixing with the Indian players in the IPL,” Gibson told reporters at the pre-match press conference. “Our players, Dwayne (Bravo), Chris (Gayle), (Kieron) Pollard especially and Sunil Narine have been starring in the IPL, so hopefully they’ve got a lot of information to share when we get back this evening. We’ll have a really good discussion about the Indian players and stuff like that, and those guys will form the main part of that meeting,” added Gibson.