What was billed as a grand battle between Caribbean six-hitters and Indian spinners turned out to be a contest so one-sided that the result was apparent even halfway into the second innings? Once MS Dhoni’s bowlers restricted the West Indies to just 129, top guns Rohit Sharma (62*) and Virat Kohli (54) forged a majestic 106-run alliance to make light of what was already task of limited complexity.
The match did go into the final over. And Yuvraj did his best to enliven it with his ineptness. But Kohli and Rohit had finished enough by then to accommodate a minor stall such as this.
Both helped themselves to half-centuries, but as much as their blades helped India garner its second successive win, it was the bowling that had set it up. Spinners Amit Mishra and R.Ashwin and part-timer Suresh Raina gave very little away, while young Bhuvneshwar Kumar turned in a probing spell of swing bowling that kept the dangerous openers Chris Gayle and Dwayne Smith quiet at the top of the order. Mishra reeled in his second Man of the Match for figures of 4-0-18-2.
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