India beat WI, reaches into the semi-final
London: India on Tuesday stormed into the semi-final of the ICC Champions Trophy tournament with a resounding eight-wicket victory over West Indies, riding on Shikhar Dhawan’s second consecutive ODI century
The stylish left-hander yet again sizzled at the Oval as his unbeaten knock of 102 helped the ‘Men In Blue’ chase down a target with 65 balls to spare. Dhawan smashed 10 fours and a six in the process.
The 27-year-old Delhi boy, who made a spectacular Test debut against Australia with a knock of 187, had scored a match-winning 114 against South Africa in the tournament opener.
Dhawan is enjoying a golden period in international cricket as his three knocks since comeback into Indian team has been centuries (187, 114, 102 no).
India thus made it to the last four of the Champions Trophy after a gap of 11 years with the last time being way back in 2002.
The opening pair is turning out to be a smash hit in the tournament as yet again Dhawan and Rohit Sharma added 101 in only 15.3 overs to lay the foundation of a comfortable victory.
Rohit, who is revelling in the role of an opener again scored a half-century. Rohit’s 52 came off 56 balls with seven boundaries. While Virat Kohli (22) couldn’t cash in, Karthik who hit eight boundaries in his 54-ball knock proved to be an able ally as they added 109 runs for the undefeated 3rd wicket stand in 19.1 overs.
Earlier, Ravindra Jadeja broke the back of the West Indies batting with a career-best five-wicket haul before Darren Sammy provided the late flourish to lift West Indies to 233 for nine.
Given the overcast conditions, Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni opted to field after winning the toss on an Oval track that was used for the low-scoring Pakistan versus West Indies game on Friday.
