Open and shut case

It was hard to say whether it was the audacity of the leave or the fact that India were prolonging West Indies8217; suffering by taking their time over chasing a small target,or the smirk that followed from Dhawan,but something really ticked off Pollard,who barged towards him. This wasn8217;t a good place to be for Dhawan,in the shadow of a menhir of a man at the end of a long and tiring day. But he looked up into Pollard8217;s eyes and laughed,following it up with a hop-on-each leg dance. Also read: 9/10 for Ravindra Jadeja

The crowd went up as one,finally having something to cheer about after a long,long time. Dhawan hadn8217;t hit a boundary in exactly 10 overs,since he had cut Marlon Samuels for four to move to 74. Neither had he gone over the top. Now,in the 34th over,he was on 88. This wasn8217;t the Dhawan they knew 8212; the destroyer from Mohali or the aggressor from Cardiff or for that matter,the swashbuckler during the first fifty runs of his innings at the Oval. Also read: India vs West Indies,Stats pack

This was a different Dhawan,one who was intent on seeing India through to the finish line. Come hell or high water,Dhawan wasn8217;t going to play by anybody else8217;s rules on Tuesday. He pinched two off the next ball to move to 90. The nineties are a place Dhawan canters in and out of rather quickly,but not today. The century could wait. India were still 37 runs away from victory,from being assured of a semi-final spot and from knocking Pakistan out of the tournament. Also read: This five-wicket haul is very special,says Jadeja

Instructions from the stands

In the next over,the 35th,the dark grey skies,which had threatened to lash down all day,began leaking. If the match was to be called off at this point,India would have won comfortably by Duckworth-Lewis calculations,74 runs ahead of the requisite 123. But the crowds wanted an 8216;I was there8217; moment with the man of the hour,and urged striker Dinesh Karthik to return the strike to Dhawan. When he did,first ball,they applauded. 8220;Two hits,two hits,8221; they roared,informing the batsman just how many strokes it would take him to get there. When Dhawan scored one run from the next four balls,they jeered.

The following over,after nurdling away a single first ball,the players were off. Rain had finally interrupted play.

Had the covers not come off,West Indies would have been saved further misery,India would have won and Dhawan,unbeaten on 92,would perhaps have been an ecstatic man. He had occupied the crease for the length of the innings,put team before self and added the word 8216;dependable8217; to his resume. But luckily for the paying public,the covers did come off and Dhawan gave them what they had flooded the stadium for,but not before Karthik had put India on the verge of victory with a few sizzling fours.

Batting on 96 and on strike for the start of the 39th over of the chase,Dhawan uppercut Dwayne Bravo into the stands to bring up his third international century in a row,and his second the second by any batsman of the tournament. The fact that Dhawan has scored a century in each of his international innings this year makes his comeback story more remarkable by the day. By the time India won in the following over,the stadium was half empty. The crowds had had enough.

strong opening

India8217;s chase,if not the win itself in difficult batting conditions,was once again founded by their openers Dhawan and Rohit Sharma. On Tuesday,Rohit and Dhawan saw off the new-ball threat of Kemar Roach and Ravi Rampaul,on a fast and skiddy wicket,with considerable elan. By the time Rohit was dismissed for 52,India had put on 101 by the 16th over. This was the first time that an Indian opening pair had added more than 100 runs in consecutive matches since Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly had done so during the one-day series here in 2007.

If Rohit played his role to perfection,then Virat Kohli,in a blink-and-miss cameo,was really the one to assure India of victory. As the lights came on in this day game and with the skies weighing down upon the Oval,showers were expected at any moment. So Kohli,in his effort to put some daylight between the required D/L score and India8217;s total before the minimum of 20 overs were bowled,was solely in search of boundaries.

He started off his innings and each of the following three overs with a boundary,only to promptly get out a ball that marked the completion of 20 overs. A result was assured and India couldn8217;t lose from there on. But it was Dhawan who ensured that they did indeed win.