Dhoni discards pads to claim first wicket

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India's captain and, usually, their wicketkeeper took off his pads midway through West Indies' innings at the Wanderers yesterday, brought himself on to bowl and promptly took a wicket with his fourth ball in international cricket.

Dhoni, ambling up and delivering nippy medium pace, bowled the hapless Travis Dowlin, who had begun the over with successive boundaries, with a ball that jagged back. That left West Indies 57 for 5 and raised Indian hopes of claiming a place in the last four. But Pakistan's defeat put paid to that.

West Indies were eventually dismissed for 129 with Praveen Kumar and Ashsih Nehra sharing six wickets. India suffered an early scare in their chase but were led home by the impressive Virat Kohli, who finished with 79 not out from 104 balls to lead his side home by seven wickets with 17.5 overs to spare.