PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad – West Indies suffered their first defeat of the CEKLON Mobile Cup when they lost to India by 102 runs (DL Method) at Queen’s Park Oval on Friday. The Windies bowled first after winning the toss, and a brilliant century by skipper Virat Kohli piloted the Indians to 311-7 off 50 overs.
The target was then reduced to 274 off 39 overs due to rain and West Indies were bowled out for 171 off 34 overs. Opener Johnson Charles continued his good form with a fluent 45 off 39 balls, while Kemar Roach (34) and Sunil Narine (21) added 58 for the ninth wicket.
West Indies kept their position at the top of the table with nine points from three matches followed by Sri Lanka – five points from two matches. The victory earned India their first points and a bonus point – to move to five points from three matches.
Speaking after the match, allrounder Darren Sammy noted that the bowling was a bit off-colour but also applauded Kohli for his Man of the Match batting performance.
"We have to give credit to Kohli and the Indians for the way they played. We did not bowl as well as we know we can. That is one area where we went wrong today. India played really well…they knew they had to come hard at us, to get a win and stay in the tournament, and they did just that," Sammy said.
"The way he (Kohli) played just goes to show what can happen when a set batsman stays in to the end of the innings. We had two very good innings in Jamaica when Chris (Gayle) got a hundred against Sri Lanka and (Johnson) Charles got 90 against India to win those two matches for us…but we did not get any real big partnerships going today."
Sammy added: "We are still very much in the tournament. Today we lost but there is need to panic. We are still at the top of the points table and we have all to play for when we face Sri Lanka on Sunday. We still believe we can win this tournament. We will regroup and look to bounce back when we meet Sri Lanka on Sunday and look to move into the final."