Kemar Roach celebrated his birthday with a bang as he guided West Indies to a thrilling one-wicket victory over India in a suspense oriented encounter in the Celkon Mobile Cup Tri-Series at Kingston on Sunday.
Pursuing a humble target of 230, West Indies made heavy weather of the chase despite a dazzling knock of 97 by opener Johnson Charles. However, they finally managed to register their second win in the tournament with 14 balls to spare. Carrying nine points from two matches as well as points-table toppers West Indies are basking in a bright chance to enter the finals.
Roach scored 14 and not out kept his cool as he brushed Umesh Yadav (3/43) towards square leg to pull in the victory in a match where fortune swung like a pendulum.
Frankly, the foundation stone of the victory was laid by opener Charles who encountered 100 balls striking eight fours and four great sixes. Further he added 116 runs for the fourth wicket with Darren Bravo (55) and the victory was evident. On the other side, Indian bowlers who made a fantastic comeback was credited as they brought some quick breakthroughs including return into the match before Roach ultimately sealed it for the hosts.
In the beginning of the match, West Indies were in awful condition as they lost both Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels within the first five overs. This placed them insecurely at 26 for three. Yadav successfully sent the opposition's best batsman Gayle (11) to the pavilion and followed it up with wicket of Devon Smith (0). Then Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled Samuels (1) to reduce West Indies to 26 for three. Gayle was sent off as a delivery from Umesh which rose awkwardly and hit the upper part of his bat. Ultimately, the resultant catch was grabbed by Suresh Raina positioned at short cover. During his next over, Yadav dismissed left-hander Smith with an inswinger while Samuels hauled one from Kumar back onto his stumps.
However, opener Charles batted positively. In fact, the first six scoring strokes were boundaries. To the surprise of everyone, Charles successfully hit through the line whenever it was slotted in his zone. He and Bravo revived the innings. The duo batted carefully as the century emerged in the 22nd over and Charles completed a well-deserved 50 off 60 balls. In order to celebrate his half-century, Charles gave Jadeja the charge to hit him into the stands. Truly, the 100 runs for the fourth wicket partnership came from 131 balls and during the 26th over.
The pitch eased out a bit as compared to first half. The West Indian partnership didn't have any problems in negotiating with the Indian bowlers. In addition, spin twins Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin weren't effective. A frantic Virat Kohli who led the side in regular skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni's absence, ushered Yadav for his second spell but Charles greeted him with one of the greatest six of the match. Ishant Sharma returned for his second spell and bowled to induce an edge off opponent captain Kieron Pollard which was elegantly taken by Dinesh Karthik behind the stumps. Amazingly, Sammy used Yadav's pace to hit him over deep square leg for a second six to reduce the required runs to below 50 with 15 overs remaining.
Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni battled cramps that hindered his running between the wickets but still scored 27 off 35 balls before he was dismissed by a Tino Best inswinger. Unfortunately, Shikhar Dhawan, Karthik and Virat Kohli didn't make noteworthy contributions although Karthik was engaged in a 50 stand with Sharma. However, 'Man of the moment' Shikhar Dhawan pulled Best and further hit a crisp cover drive off Roach to grab a couple of boundaries. Sharma, whose performance has been marvelous since he started opening the innings commenced with a six off Best, a slash that passed over third man.
It was an onerous task for Karthik to rotate strike as Sammy was in the middle of a good spell where he maintained things tight. In a situation where the ball didn’t come onto the bat, the two batsmen marched sluggishly during the initial stage. Sharma was once ready to play the waiting game as he obtained the occasional boundary. Actually, one such shot was a lofted drive over extra cover off Best.
The 50 runs partnership for the third wicket was obtained off 88 balls and just when apparently Karthik was getting a hang of the track. He then offered a simple return catch to Marlon Samuels to end up a 59-run stand. Truly, a deft cut past backward point off Sunil Narine was pure class and he concluded his 16th half-century in limited overs off 77 balls as the 100 of the team entered the 27th over. As soon as the Mumbaikar was comfortable for a big score, he holed out at long-off boundary. Clearly, Raina and Dhoni dealt in singles although the UP left-hander struck some attractive boundaries as the duo began a recovery act from 124 for four. They ran well in some singles as the 50-run partnership for the fifth wicket came off 65 balls. Unluckily, Dhoni suffered from cramps in the 43rd over which resulted in a medical break. This impeded Raina's concentration as he edged Denesh Ramdin behind the stumps. At the end, Raina faced 55 balls and struck four boundaries. In a situation where Raina was gone and Dhoni injured, the likelihood of reaching 250 became impossible.
