MANCHESTER, June 27: Mohammed Shami returned career-best figures of 4/16 as India underlined their bowling might by chalking a huge 125-run victory over the West Indies in their World Cup group stage encounter to knock them out and put one foot in the semifinal.
India rode half centuries from skipper Virat Kohli (72 off 82 balls) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (56 not out) with Hardik Pandya smashing a quickfire 46 to post 268/7 in 50 overs after electing to bat first.
Chasing a challenging 269 for victory, the Windies were never in the hunt as Shami, who grabbed a hat-trick against Afghanistan in India's last game, returned best figures with Jasprit Bumrah (2/9) and Yuzvendra Chahal (2/39) also picking up two wickets.
India, placed second in the points table, now have 11 points from six games and will take on England on Sunday.
Shami got the party underway for the men in blue, taking the wickets of Chris Gayle (6) who was caught at mid on by Kedar Jadhav, and Shai Hope (5) who was clean-bowled inside the first seven overs.
Sunil Ambris and Nicholas Pooran then shared a 55-run stand for the third wicket before Pandya trapped Ambris (31) in front. From then on, it was all downhill for the Caribbean outfit as Pooran also departed for 28, Kuldeep Yadav having him caught by Shami at long off.
In the end, Windies were bundled out for 143 in 34.2 overs as Shami took the final wicket of Oshane Thomas (6). Kemar Roach remained not out on 14.
Earlier, Kohli notched up his fourth consecutive fifty, his innings studded with eight fours, while Dhoni took time till the final over to get his mojo back and remained unbeaten on 56 off 61 balls with the help of three fours and two sixes after India chose to bat first.
Pandya took 38 balls to score 46 (4x5) before holing out to Fabien Allen off Sheldon Cottrell in the 49th over.
In the final over, Dhoni took 16 runs off Oshane Thomas by hitting two sixes � off the first and last ball � and a four to put behind his woeful crawl in which he was let go twice by the Windies. � IANS
SCORECARD
India
Rahul b Holder 48
Rohit c Hope b Roach 18
Kohli c sub (DM Bravo) b Holder 72
Vijay c Hope b Roach 14
Jadhav c Hope b Roach 7
Dhoni not out 56
Pandya c Allen b Cottrell 46
Shami c Hope b Cottrell 0
Kuldeep not out 0
Extras: (B-1, W-6) 7
Total: (For 7 wkts in 50 overs) 268
Fall of wickets: 1-29, 2-98, 3-126, 4-140, 5-180, 6-250, 7-252.
Bowling: Cottrell 10-0-50-2, Roach 10-0-36-3, Thomas 7-0-63-0, Allen 10-0-52-0, Holder 10-2-33-2, Brathwaite 3-0-33-0.
West Indies
Gayle c Jadhav b Shami 6
Ambris lbw b Pandya 31
Hope b Shami 5
Pooran c Shami b Yadav 28
Hetmyer c Rahul b Shami 18
Holder c Jadhav b Chahal 6
Brathwaite c Dhoni b Bumrah 1
Allen lbw b Bumrah 0
Roach not out 14
Cottrell lbw b Chahal 10
Thomas c Sharma b Shami 6
Extras: (b 9, lb 3, nb 1, w 5) 18
Total: (All out in 34.2 Overs) 143
Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-16, 3-71, 4-80, 5-98, 6-107, 7-107, 8-112, 9-124, 10-143.
Bowling: Shami 6.2-0-16-4, Bumrah 6-1-9-2, Pandya 5-0-28-1, Yadav 9-1-35-1, Jadhav 1-0-4-0, Chahal 7-0-39-2.
