India Vs West Indies: India won by 45 runs, Rohit Sharma sizzles

In the opening warm up match for ICC T20 WC 2016, Rohit Sharma kick started India’s challenge with a scintillating innings to help India sail past West Indies at Eden Gardens. The stylish opener smashed 98* to continue his love affair with Eden Gardens as the ‘Men in Blue’ notched up a comprehensive 45-run victory.

But, their biggest gain of the night was Mohammad Shami who came back from a lengthy injury lay-off by scalping two wickets. The Indian bowlers showed considerable fortitude to bounce back from a wayward start by dismissing their opposition for 140.

Earlier, MS Dhoni won the toss and opted to give his batsmen some practice on return to familiar conditions. Shikhar Dhawan carried off his form from the Asia Cup final to start off with an array of boundaries.

Meanwhile, Rohit began rather sedately and looked to get his eye in before expanding his repertoire. Suleiman Benn broke the partnership by castling Dhawan as the West Indians turned to spin.

The tall spinner proceeded to strike again by deceiving Ajinkya Rahane whose patchy knock came to an end. His inconsistent form in the shorter formats will be a minor concern for the team management as they seek to bolster the bench-strength ahead of the main event.

Yuvraj Singh joined hands with Sharma as the duo resurrected India’s foray to thwart the Caribbean bowlers. They counter-attacked with precision to set a formidable platform for the hosts before the death overs.

Even though Darren Sammy got rid of Yuvraj, Sharma continued to plunder the West Indies bowling with a plethora of sixes. Despite the fall of late wickets, India reached a daunting 185 courtesy Rohit who stayed unbeaten till the end.

Johnson Charles and Chris Gayle got the chase going by asserting themselves on the Indian pacers. The Indian spinners copped a bit of initial hammering as the West Indies batsmen targeted the shorter boundaries.

However, the seamers came to Dhoni’s rescue and removed both the openers. After Jasprit Bumrah breached Gayle’s defense, Shami induced an edge to prise out Charles. The veteran skipper brought back his spinners in a bid to stifle the middle-order.

From then on, it was all one-way traffic as Ravindra Jadeja and Pawan Negi reduced the visitors to 84/6. Hardik Pandya chipped in with a couple of wickets as the tail was cleaned up with ease.

Darren Sammy was left to rue the dismal batting effort from his troops and the team management would also want better application. For the home team, the contest turned out to be perfect practice which was aimed at the main matches.

Brief Scores: India 185/6 (Rohit 98*, Yuvraj 31, Taylor 2-26); West Indies 140 (Gayle 20, Negi 2-15, Shami 2-30)

Result: India won by 45 runs