Windies Victory Dumps Out England

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Windies victory dumps out England

West Indies hung on for a nail-biting win over India to book their semi-final place and knock England out of the Champions Trophy in Ahmedabad.

Chasing 224, the Windies looked home and dry but they lost four wickets in the last 13 balls before clinching a three-wicket win with two balls left.

Ramnaresh Sarwan hit 53, Shiv Chanderpaul made 51 and Runako Morton kept up the momentum with 45.

India were rescued by Mahendra Dhoni's valiant 51 in his side's 223-9.

Skipper Rahul Dravid (49) and Yuvraj Singh (27) earlier guided India away from another mini-crisis at 69-3.

For West Indies, Bradshaw took 3-30 off 10 overs, while Taylor took 2-33.

India need to beat Australia on Sunday to progress, in a make-or-break match for both sides.

West Indies play winless England in a dead rubber in their final match on Saturday.

The Windies, who won the toss and chose to field, were in grave danger of batting themselves to defeat inside the last three overs, sparked by the demise of Morton.

The right-hander was trapped lbw by Ajit Agarkar with 12 runs left to get after putting on 92 with Sarwan.

Skipper Brian Lara, who passed a fitness test on his back, came in at number six hoping to steer his ship safely home.

But after surviving one big appeal for lbw, and then stroking a sumptuous four, he dragged a delivery from Irfan Pathan on to his stumps for five.

Two deliveries later, and still needing six off the last seven balls, Sarwan saw Dravid drop a skier, only for the home skipper to run him out.

Windies needed five runs off the final over but Agarkar clean bowled Dwayne Smith with his first ball to leave the visiting side on tenterhooks before Carlton Baugh scrambled a single and Marlon Samuels smashed a four to clinch the win.

Chris Gayle earlier got the Windies innings off to a flying start with a quick-fire 34 off 37 balls before needlessly holing out to RP Singh in the deep off Munaf Patel in the 10th over.

Chanderpaul played second fiddle early on but took over as senior partner and combined with Bravo to add 57 before Bravo fell lbw to Harbhajan Singh for 16.

The left-handed Chanderpaul lasted until the 17th over, facing 72 balls and hitting eight fours, when he edged off-spinner Virender Sehwag to Dravid at first slip.

This ushered in the exciting Morton to join Bravo and the Windies seemed set fair for a comfortable victory before the late collapse.

Lara's decision to bowl seemed vindicated when India lost opener Sehwag and Pathan quickly.

Sehwag was trapped lbw by Jerome Taylor for 17, while Ian Bradshaw forced Pathan to drag on to his stumps in the sixth over, leaving Sachin Tendulkar and Dravid to avert a crisis.

The pair steadied the ship for 10 overs, though Tendulkar survived a good lbw appeal from Smith in the 12th over.

But Bradshaw eventually removed the prolific right-hander, who dragged a wide delivery on to the stumps after facing 45 balls and hitting four fours.

Dravid and Yuvraj came together on 69-3 and put on 61 before Bravo pouched Yuvraj off Bradshaw with the first ball of the 31st over.

Five balls later, Dravid was run out by a pin-point throw from Smith, leaving India struggling at 131-5.

Dhoni took his time to ignite, taking 40 deliveries to reach 12 runs as Suresh Raina was stumped by Baugh off right-arm off-spinner Samuels for 19.

But Harbhajan came in and played the perfect foil as Dhoni began to unleash his fireworks.

Harbhajan eventually fell to Taylor in the penultimate over for 15 before Dhoni and Agarkar were run out by wicket-keeper Baugh with the final two balls of the innings.

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