Mohammed Shami's four-wicket haul helps India pip West Indies

Mohammed Shami's four wickets helped India beat West Indies by 48 runs in the second ODI played at Feroz Shah Kotla stadium on Saturday.

MS Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat, but the Indian batsmen found it difficult to score runs freely. The hosts lost opener Shikhar Dhawan, in just the second over of the match for one. Ajinkya Rahane and Ambati Rayadu added 46 runs, before Rahane departed and he was followed soon by Rayudu. The dismissals brought an out-of-form Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina to the fore.

The duo helped rescue India from yet another top-order collapse, with a 105-run stand for the fourth wicket. India managed a respectable 263 runs in their innings.

West Indies in reply were off to a cautious start as their openers, Dwayne Smith and Darren Bravo, looked to play out India's new ball attack of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Umesh Yadav. They scored seven from the first four overs.

Smith hit the tourists' first four in the fifth over and, after that, the duo looked to relentlessly raise the tempo. In their quest for boundaries, Bravo fell to Shami in the 14th over.

Kieron Pollard joined forces with Smith and the duo helped put their dressing room at ease with a solid 72-run partnership for the second wicket. At one point, West Indies needed 128 runs from 128 balls, with several batsmen still in the dressing room, to win their second-straight match.

But Pollard's dismissal in the 29th over turned the tide in India's favour. On a two-paced pitch, India's bowlers put the brakes on the scoring, and panic took hold of the batsmen. West Indies lost their last nine wickets for 79 runs, and their last eight for 45.

Shami claimed the wickets of Smith, Darren Bravo, Dwayne Bravo and Ravi Rampaul to finish with figures that earned him the Man-of-the-Match award.

"Shami bowled really well. There was a bit of reverse swing, he got us vital breakthroughs. Mishra was crucial gain, he was willing to flight the ball. Once the ball gets wet or there is no turn, Jadeja does not flight the ball. That is why I used Mishra more. I feel quite a few things are missing. We have to pull our socks up. We have not played to our potential. This game is a crucial eye opener for us. We are on the winning side, but we could have lost this," Dhoni said.

"Quite difficult (to get 263), but quite a few batsmen got off to a decent start (and got out), we lost two wickets close to the 40th over. That was very crucial. We were short by 20 runs because of that. Virat is an important character in our team the way he bats, he got runs today which will definitely help him. Raina batted excellently, has carried his form from the Champions League. They have to convert these starts into bigger innings."