When wickets were falling before his arrival and also around him, either controversially or against the run of play it was Virat Kohli's 4th consecutive fifty of the tournament, a fine 78 off 82 with 8 fours which made the audience crave for more and left the captain himself disappointed at the end of the knock. Virat also became the fastest to touch 20000 international runs in just 417 innings during this knock that became the first focal point of the Indian innings. Sachin and Lara took 453 innings to reach the same number of runs. 

Earlier, Rohit Sharma fell to a trick edge which was induced by Roach to effect a keeper's catch and ultimately a decision that led to a lot of confusions as ICC didn't have the hot spot technology to make sure about the impact point of the ball. In his 18 off 23, Rohit had a four and a six. 

KL Rahul was moving at a steady pace with 6 fours and 74 balls before misjudging an incoming delivery by Holder and getting out bowled for 48. These two dismissals happened in the space of 94 deliveries. However, Shankar and Jadhav failed again in a brief gap of 17 deliveries, to the combo of Hope and Roach for 14 (19) 3x4 and 7x10 (1x4) respectively. 

Kohli's shocking end came about in the 39th over as he attempted a pull and uncontrollably spooned it to substitute fielder Darren Bravo off the bowling of Holder. At the end of the 40th over, India were 186/5 with Dhoni on 18 (38) and Hardik on 6 (10).

India reached 219/5 at the end of the 45th over and 268/7 (50) mainly due to the swift 46(38) 5x4 by Hardik and a 56(61) with 3 fours and two sixes by Dhoni.16 runs came in the last over in which he faced Oshane Thomas. In the last 10 over phase, India scored 82/2 and Dhoni got 38(25). Cotrell picked up Pandya and Shami.

In the chase, Gayle and Hope lost their wickets to Shami in single digit scores via a shot to Jadhav at mid-on and a delivery that swung heavily to get rid of Hope's stumps. In their respective scores of 6 from 19 and 5 off 10 deliveries, both had one four each in their innings. 

11 overs and 55 runs later, Ambris's 31(40) was put to an end in LBW mode by Hardik's clever off-cutter. Soon after, Kuldeep ended Pooran's sluggish 28(50) with 2 fours as the left-hand batsman held out lofting the ball to Shami who stood on the long off region.

Jason Holder, the captain, couldn't go past 6 runs in 13 balls as Chahal got him out by virtue of a tossed up ball with Jadhav fielding at extra cover. Windies were 98/5 in 24.2 overs. Carlos Brathwaite got out as Bumrah induced the edge and Dhoni took a diving stunner. CB got only one run off 5 balls and fell on the first ball off the 27th over. In the very next delivery, Fabian Allen fell to an LBW. However, Roach successfully defended the hat trick ball.

On the fourth ball of the 28th, Hardik caught Hetmyer close-in and claimed it. However, no one went for an appeal and it wasn't even reviewed.  Hetmyer couldn't capitalize on it even until the next over as he slapped Shami's delivery straight to KL Rahul at backward point and perished for 18(29) 1x4.

In the 30th over, Cottrell was foxed with an LBW by Chahal after the leg-spinner conceded a four and a six in the over. Ironically, that six became the first and only one of the innings, very unlike the Windies. 

Finally, a Shami bouncer took the gloves of Oshane Thomas and rose up to Rohit at slip. That's how the Windies innings got folded for 143 and India secured a huge win by 125 runs. Virat Kohli got the man of the match award. 

India will next face England at Birmingham on Sunday

Match facts

#INDvsWI #Manchester #CWC2019 

India opted to bat first

India (Playing XI): Lokesh Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli(c), Vijay Shankar, MS Dhoni(w), Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah

Unchanged XI 

West Indies (Playing XI): Chris Gayle, Sunil Ambris, Shai Hope(w), Nicholas Pooran, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder(c), Carlos Brathwaite, Fabian Allen, Kemar Roach, Sheldon Cottrell, Oshane Thomas

In: Sunil Ambris, Fabian Allen
Out: Evin Levis, Ashley Nurse

Kumaran Kumanan

Images Courtesy: BCCI ICC twitter