West Indies captain Chris Gayle struck a powerful 98 to lead his team to a 14-run victory over India in the Twenty20 World Cup in front of a wildly celebrating home crowd Sunday. West Indies can reach the semifinals with victory over Australia Tuesday but defeat left India facing almost certain elimination after its second loss in the Super Eight stage. Gayle played with a combination of prudence and power, his 66-ball knock ending when he was run out in the final over, two short of what would have been his second century in a Twenty20 international. The total of 169 was a challenging one and India was never up with the run-rate despite a good knock of 32 from Suresh Raina and an aggressive 29 from 18 balls from skipper M.S. Dhoni. “The batting hasn't been up to expectations. The bowlers have done decently, give or take a few overs here and there but batting is supposed to be our strength, and we should chase 170 in these conditions,” Dhoni told reporters. It was a memorable afternoon for the home side and Caribbean cricket's clock turned back as sixes flew from the bat of the West Indian captain and the noisy local crowd stood to cheer bouncers from pace bowlers. “The support has been tremendous, we had to come out and give the crowd something to cheer otherwise I am sure stones would have been thrown,” said Gayle, who went into the game under some pressure. Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul batted with caution in the early stages on a dampish wicket that was turning, particularly for Harbhajan Singh, but they shared an opening partnership of 80 before the latter fell for 23. Darren Sammy (19) and Kieron Pollard (17) made useful, up-tempo contributions in support of Gayle, who struck seven sixes. India quickly found themselves in trouble at 38 for three, with Rohit Sharma's dismissal causing controversy as he claimed his caught behind came off his arm. Sharma argued his case at the crease, asking for a television replay, and is likely to face punishment. It was not just the pace bowlers, Kemar Roach and Jerome Taylor, who peppered the Indians with short stuff with medium-pacers Dwayne Bravo and Sammy also making use of the bouncer. Modi to answer graft charges Suspended Indian Premier League boss Lalit Modi was due to respond Monday to corruption charges that have sparked a government investigation into the glitzy, money-spinning cricket tournament. The sport's national ruling body, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), suspended Modi as head of the IPL pending its own probe into allegations of corruption, tax evasion and money-laundering. He was also stood down as a BCCI vice president and as chairman of the T20 Champions League, a separate club tournament organised jointly by India, Australia and South Africa. “I am going to reply personally because there is nothing to hide,” Modi was reported as saying by the Press Trust of India news agency Saturday. Modi faced another scandal last week when it emerged he tried to divide world cricket by proposing a parallel event in England. – Agencies Scoreboard West Indies C. Gayle run out (sub Karthik/Dhoni) 98 S. Chanderpaul c Dhoni b Nehra 23 D. Sammy c Vijay b Jadeja 19 K. Pollard c Pathan b Zaheer Khan 17 D. Bravo c Sharma b Nehra 01 R. Sarwan c Sharma b Nehra 00 W. Hinds not out 00 D. Ramdin not out 04 Extras (lb4, w2, nb1) 07 Total (6 wickets) 169 Did not bat: S. Benn, K. Roach, J. Taylor. Falls: 1-80 (Chanderpaul), 2-119 (Sammy), 3-160 (Pollard), 4-163 (Bravo), 5-164 (Sarwan), 6-165 (Gayle). Bowling: Harbhajan 4-0-16-0, Zaheer 4-0-36-1 (1nb), Nehra 4-0-35-3 (1w), Pathan 4-0-28-0 (1w), Raina 2-0-23-0, Jadeja 2-0-27-1. India M. Vijay c Pollard b Sammy 07 G. Gambhir c Ramdin b Roach 15 S. Raina c Sammy b Gayle 32 R. Sharma c Ramdin b Pollard 05 Yuvraj Singh c Chanderpaul b Benn 12 MS Dhoni run out (Bravo) 29 Y. Pathan c Hinds b Taylor 17 Harbhajan Singh c Bravo b Roach 14 R. Jadeja not out 05 A. Nehra c Benn b Bravo 00 Zaheer Khan not out 00 Extras (lb2, w15, nb2) 19 Total (9 wkts, 20 overs) 155 Falls: 1-12 (Vijay), 2-27 (Gambhir), 3-38 (Sharma), 4-80 (Raina), 5-81 (Yuvraj Singh), 6-114 (Pathan), 7-140 (Dhoni), 8-150 (Harbhajan), 9-152 (Nehra). Bowling: Sammy 3-0-16-1 (1nb, 1w), Taylor 4-0-24-1 (4w), Roach 4-0-38-2 (1nb, 7w), Bravo 4-0-28-1, Pollard 2-0-23-1 (2w), Gayle 2-0-22-1 (1w), Benn 1-0-2-1. Man of the Match: Chris Gayle. __
