India skittle out Windies for 182

Perth, March 6 (IANS) A superlative bowling performance helped India skittle out the West Indies for 182 in a World Cup Pool B encounter at the WACA here on Friday.

Asked to bowl, India obliged by taking 44.2 overs to pack off the former two-time champions with pace spearhead Mohammed Shami (3/35) being the pick of the bowlers. Windies captain Jason Holder (57) offered the only resistance down the order with his highest One-Day International (ODI) score.

Indian pacers Shami and Umesh Yadav (2/42) bowled superbly at the start with accurate line and length, restricting the Windies to only 8/1 in 5 overs. In fact, Chris Gayle (21) struggled and took 11 balls to get off the mark, that too in the sixth over.

Opener Gayle looked a little dangerous when he smashed two boundaries and a six at the start but once he got out, Indian bowlers ripped apart the Windies batting line-up. The burly left-hander gave three difficult chances to India but eventually gifted his wicket when he slashed hard a short ball only to be caught by Mohit Sharma at mid-wicket.

Shami, who did not play in India's last match against the United Arab Emirates due to injury, and Yadav made perfect use of the pacy and bouncy WACA wicket to take four wickets to reduce the Caribbean side to 35/4 by the 10th over. Some poor shot selection by Windies batsmen also aided the defending champions.

Third pacer Mohit (1/35) was also impressive while spinners Ravichandran Ashwin (1/38) and Ravindra Jadeja (2/27) choked the Windies and consequently the batsmen gave away their wickets.

The Indian fielding proved to be two sides of the same coin. While some fielded brilliantly to stop runs and clinched impressive catches, a few sitters were also dropped by Jadeja and Rohit Sharma which helped the Windies go beyond the 150-run mark.

All-rounder Holder was the only one down at No.9 who offered any kind of resistance. As captain, the 23-year-old showed the WACA wicket was a good one to bat on as he hammered three sixes and four fours in his 64-ball innings before being caught on the last ball of the innings.

Brief scores: West Indies 182 all out in 44.2 overs (Jason Holder 57; Mohammed Shami 3/35, Ravindra Jadeja 2/27, Umesh Yadav 2/42) vs India.