India won over West Indies in tense first one day international at Jamaica. Yuvraj Singh hit a rollicking 131 run knock as India pipped the West Indies by 20 runs iby taking lead of 1-0.
Leaving behind their pathetic showing in the Twenty20 World Cup, Indian batsmen fired on all cylinders as they trampled the West Indies attack to reach an intimidating 339 for six after opting to bat at Sabina Park.
However, defending even such a massive total proved quite a task for the Indians as they just about managed to bowl the hosts out for 319 in 48.1 overs.
It was a spirited chase by the hosts, for whom Shivnarine Chanderpaul top scored with 63 and Denesh Ramdin played a sparkling 29-run knock down the order.
Yuvraj treated the host bowlers with utter disdain and clobbered them for seven huge sixes and 10 boundaries, apart from sharing a crucial 135-run stand with Dinesh Karthik (67), to shape the Indian innings.
Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (41), Yusuf Pathan (40 not out) and Harbhajan Singh (21 not out) also chipped in with useful contributions.
With the wicket of Chanderpaul in the 36th over it looked all over for the hosts, but their lower order batted with steely resolve and made it an edge of the seat contest.
The West Indies required 21 off the last two overs with one wicket in hand, but Ashish Nehra dismissed Ramdin with the first ball of the 49th over to bring huge relief for his side.
Ramnaresh Sarwan (45) and Runako Morton (42) did well and gave the West Indies a good start but could not convert their scores into big knocks. Jerome Taylor (21) and David Bernard (19), batting at number seven and nine respectively, did their best but their efforts went in vain in the end.
For India, Nehra (3/49) and Yusuf Pathan (3/56) took three wickets apiece. It rained sixes as 23 were hit in the match. Only thrice has a one dayer witnessed more sixes.
The West Indies chase began in right earnest, with Chris Gayle (37) and Morton quickly putting up 65 for the first wicket before comeback-man Asish Nehra got rid of the skipper.
Gayle miscued a pull off the left-arm paceman and Harbhajan took a smart running catch at mid on.
Morton's entertaining knock, in which he hit four fours and a six, ended when Yusuf had him caught by the wicketkeeper.
The hosts maintained a good run-rate to keep their hopes alive but continued losing their settled batsmen.
The big-hitting Dwayne Bravo [Images] (8) was extremely unlucky as he got out to a high full toss from Ishant Sharma [Images] which the umpires failed to call a no-ball.
The start, however, was not encouraging with both Gautam Gambhir and Rohit Sharma succumbing to short pitched deliveries, trying ambitious shots. Gautam top edged a hook off Jerome Taylor and Sharma perished failing to control a pull off David Bernard.
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