5 Things: India on path to final, West Indies face fight for quarters spot

Here are five things we learned from Friday's India-West Indies match at the Cricket World Cup:

1. India in a strong position for deep run

West Indies made India work for it, but Friday's win clinched the defending champions a quarterfinals berth and kept them undefeated (4-0-0) in group play. With only Ireland and Zimbabwe left on their schedule, India are almost certain to finish at the top of Pool B. If they do lock down the top spot, they'll face the fourth-place team from Pool A in the quarterfinals. At the moment, the two candidates are a very weak England team or a Bangladesh team seeking to make a knockout stage in a World Cup for the first time. India matches up very well with either squad.

As for the semifinals, India would play in Sydney and will be keeping fingers crossed that Australia stumbles against Sri Lanka in Pool A. A Sri Lanka win would mean that once the knockout stage arrives, Australia would be drawn for a semifinal rematch against New Zealand in Auckland's Eden Park, the same ground where New Zealand beat Australia by one wicket last weekend. Meanwhile, India would avoid both co-hosts until the final.

2. Anyone doubting Jason Holder now?

Much of the opposition to Jason Holder's seemingly premature appointment as West Indies' ODI captain centered around the fact that the 23-year-old was too inexperienced and hardly an automatic selection in the starting 11. However, he has been the steadiest contributor on a team full of mercurial performers. If others showed the same amount of consistency as Holder, West Indies wouldn't be fighting tooth and nail just to reach the quarterfinals.

Outside of a horrific final few overs against AB de Villiers in a lopsided loss versus South Africa, Holder has been a handful to face during the tournament thanks to his height and sharp bounce. He has also done his best to help his team save face after a series of embarrassing top-order collapses, and his resilient batting is one reason West Indies are still in line to make the quarterfinals despite an opening-match loss against Ireland.

With bat and ball, Holder worked to stretch out Friday's encounter against India for as long as possible, making sure West Indies suffered the smallest hit possible to their net run rate, a crucial tournament tiebreaker. His 57 in West Indies' total of 182 was monumental. If India bowled West Indies out for 100 and chased the total inside of 20 overs, it would have been disastrous to West Indies' net run rate.

The only minor quibble with how Holder managed things in the field was that he didn't bowl himself out, or Jerome Taylor, but at the very least India didn't reach the target until the 40th over. With one match to play against a weak UAE side, West Indies should finish above Pakistan and Ireland on net run rate in the event all three teams finish with six points at the end of the group stage.

3. West Indies better hope ICC rethinks 10-team format

Even though West Indies should advance to the quarterfinals, their prospects in qualifying for the 2019 edition are looking a bit shaky at the moment. Bangladesh are 18 points behind in the ODI rankings, but are chock full of young talent. West Indies, on the other hand, are very much in decline. Chris Gayle will most likely retire from ODIs after this tournament. Beyond him, the top order batting depth is scraping the bottom of the barrel -- the fact that Dwayne Smith continues to open the batting after averaging a paltry 18.61 in 104 ODIs underscores that.

The West Indies bowlers have promise, but in an era of 300-plus par scores, they often struggle to get past 200. If they can't stay within the top 8 on the ODI rankings table by the cutoff date in September 2017 for an automatic World Cup berth, the 2018 qualifier will be a very tense affair. West Indies might wind up being the most relieved Full Member if the ICC does indeed rethink their plan of reducing the World Cup field to 10 teams for 2019 and keep the number at 14.

4. MS Dhoni has plenty left in the tank

He may not be as flamboyant as he was in his prime, but MS Dhoni reminded viewers with his unbeaten 45 Friday why he is widely regarded as one of the best finishers in ODI history. In the past, he has excelled with late-innings heroics by bashing the ball to the boundary. Friday, Dhoni applied a wise batting approach that West Indies lacked by calmly knocking the ball for singles instead of the big swings that led to the downfall of so many others on both sides in the match.

Dhoni retired from Test cricket late last year and, despite being only 33, the clock on his ODI career has been ticking faster thanks to the allure of T20 riches in the Indian Premier League. The way he and his side are playing in this tournament, though, it would be a shame to see him depart so soon.

5. Singles bar

Dhoni had 22 singles in all, more than any batsman, in the match. Holder was next with 21. It says a lot that they topped their respective sides. If other players had shown as much intelligence by working the ball around instead of going for glory on every shot, West Indies might have posted a competitive total.

Gayle may thrill crowds when he goes off for a double-hundred like he did against Zimbabwe in an innings that included 16 sixes, but teams are better served when their players are able to consistently rotate the strike. Dhoni and Holder both proved once again today that there is plenty of room for success in the batting department by mastering the less glamorous aspect of patient run accumulation.