World Cup 2015: An easy day for unbeaten India

By Kushan Sarkar
India virtually assured themselves of a quarterfinal berth in the World Cup after spanking UAE by nine wickets, recording their third successive win with yet another flawless display on Saturday at Perth.

After the bowlers led by off-spinner R Ashwin (4/25) bundled out UAE for a paltry 102 in only 31.3 overs, the batsmen made short work of the target knocking off the required runs in only 18.5 overs in a completely lop-sided Pool B contest. India thus maintained their grip on the top spot in the league table with three wins from as many matches which took their points tally to six. With three matches against West Indies, Zimbabwe and Ireland left, Dhoni and his boys, are well on course of topping the group.

Shikhar Dhawan (14) started off well with three sweetly-timed boundaries before Rohan Mustafa at gully pulled off a one-handed stunner to send him back. The pacer was Mohammed Naveed.

Rohit Sharma hit a fluent unbeaten 57 off 55 deliveries with the help of 10 fours and a six to notch up a significant score before the West Indies game.

Virat Kohli (33 not out) had a calm day in office. Despite that he added 75 runs for the unbroken second wicket with Rohit in 12.2 overs. The winning boundary was hit by Rohit and the celebrations were predictably muted as the win against UAE was taken for granted.