West Indies batted first and posted an imposing 195/4 in 20 overs. Shai Hope and Roston Chase provided a steady start, scoring 68 runs for the opening wicket in 53 balls. Hope looked fluid before being bowled by Varun Chakravarthy as Chase put together a composed 40. Shimron Hetmyer added 27 but fell in a crucial over to Jasprit Bumrah, who shifted the momentum with two important wickets. Sherfane Rutherford made 14 before edging out Hardik Pandya.
The innings gained new momentum in the death overs as Rovman Powell and Jason Holder launched a counter-attack. The duo stitched together an unbeaten partnership of 76 runs off just 35 balls for the fifth wicket. Powell hit 34* off 19 deliveries while Holder hit 37* off 22, taking the total close to the 200-run mark. Bumrah finished with 2/36 and stood out among the Indian bowlers, while Axar Patel remained in control with an economic spell.
Chasing 196, India started cautiously, losing Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan for 10 each. Suryakumar Yadav scored 18, and Tilak Varma injected momentum with a smooth 27 that included three consecutive boundaries. Hardik Pandya contributed seventeen but the chase revolved around a masterclass from Sanju Samson. The wicketkeeper-batsman remained unbeaten on 97 off 50 balls and hit 12 fours and four sixes at a strike rate of 194 to guide India home in 19.2 overs.
Despite efforts from Holder (2/38) and Shamar Joseph (2/42), West Indies could not prevent the chase. India will next take on the England national cricket team in the semi-final on March 5 at the Wankhede Stadium. In the first semi-final, South Africa will take on New Zealand at Eden Gardens on March 4.
Who said what?
Sanju Samson, Player of the Match
It actually means the whole world to me. I think from the day I started playing and started dreaming of playing for the country, I think this is the day I was waiting for. And I am very grateful, very grateful. And I’ve always had a very special journey with a lot of ups and downs, but I kept doubting myself, kept thinking: what if, what if, can I make it, can I make it? But I kept my faith and thanked the Lord Almighty for actually blessing me today. So I’m very happy. Yeah, I think that’s why I’ve been playing this format for a long time. I think I have been playing IPL for about 10 to 12 years and have been playing for the country for the last 10 years. I haven’t played, but watched from the dugout, learning from greats like Virat Kohli, from Rohit Sharma, like all greats. I think it is very important to observe, learn and see what they did. I think that really helped me, I think with my experience I may have only played 50, 60 games, but I’ve seen about 100 games and I’ve seen how the best people have finished the games and how they change their play depending on the game. So I think in the last game we were batting first, so it was all about getting a very high score. So that’s how I wanted to become great from ball one. But this game was completely different. I think as soon as I wanted to go a little bit higher, we lost wickets. So I think I wanted to build a partnership, stay focused on my process. And I never felt like I would do something as special as this, but I just focused on my role and kept ball by ball and was very grateful. I think this is one of the best days of my life. Yeah, they definitely bring a lot of energy and they bring a lot of support. But I think on the other side there is always a question: what if it isn’t? So that certainly remains in your mind. But when that thought kept coming, I just brought myself to the present moment, just looked at the ball and trusted that I would respond on merit based on the ball. So I think that worked out quite well today.
Suryakumar Yadav, India (winning captain)
It’s obviously a great feeling. It looked like a quarter-final match. The way the boys showed character was great. I always say that good things happen to good people who wait. It’s all his hard work that he did when he wasn’t playing and now he has the fruit. I feel like everyone bowled according to the plans. We knew that 200 is always a good score to chase. The dew makes the ball land nicely on the bat and our plan was to take the play deep. Very happy to be there. The way we played from the first match, I think we deserve to be there in Mumbai. But we’re not going to think about that now. We’ll take a flight, go to Mumbai and see what we have to do. If there is no pressure, there is no pressure. We are nervous, there are butterflies in the stomach, but how you deal with it is what matters.
Shai Hope, West Indies (losing captain)
Maybe a few shortcomings, especially in a chase area like this. There probably could have been a little more in the end. Probably more could have come out of it in the beginning. He is one of their most important bowlers. Every time he has the ball in his hands, there is something that is happy. Hety was doing very well. I thought we were good. The way we adapted to different circumstances was good. Forde was good with the ball. Akeal has also given us wickets. Just didn’t get over the finish line today to continue the tournament. You never want to end up in this phase. One more match you will be in the semi-finals and if you have a good match you will be in the finals. We need to make sure you play the best cricket of the day. Take the crucial moments and capitalize.
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