India took the lead in the Digicel Pearl limited overs cricket series with a comfortable four-wicket victory over the West Indies in the opening match at the Queen's Park Oval yesterday. Prior to the start of the match there was a buzz around the ground as fans anticipated a competitive affair. However, eight hours later this was replaced by disappointment as downtrodden local fans trudged away from the Oval, hoping for a better showing when the teams meet again tomorrow. Scores: West Indies 214/9 (50overs) vs India 217/6 (44.5). After posting a below par effort of 214 for nine off 50 overs, the West Indies bowlers kept the fans interested, grabbing four wickets with the visitors still needing more than half of the runs in their victory chase.
But the classy Rohit Sharma and skipper Suresh Raina rescued the visitors with an intelligent partnership of 76 for the fifth wicket that essentially sealed the game. Opener Shikhar Dhawan (51) kept the scoreboard ticking as wickets fell around him. However, when he became the fourth wicket to fall and leg spinner Anthony Martin's first ODI wicket for the West Indies, the Indians appeared to be placed on the back foot. But Sharma and Raina took charge and calmly took India to a position of dominance. Raina fell to Martin just before the end for a well crafted 43 off 50 balls with four fours. Sharma stayed to the end and walked off unbeaten on 68 off 75 balls with three fours and a six.
Earlier, West Indies won the toss and opted to take first use of a good batting strip but by the eighth over both Lendl Simmons and Darren Bravo were back in the pavillion with just 28 runs on the board. Simmons top-edged a pull to Harbhajan Singh at mid-off and Bravo was caught by Sharma off Munaf Patel for four. From this point it was all India, as the spinners were employed and they dried up the runs. With the score on 59 in the 19th over, Kirk Edwards' woes against spin came to an end. He had scarcely read a ball from the tweakers and when Harbhajan landed the floater short of a length, he top-edged a pull that lobbed into Virat Kohli's hand at slip. He made 21 off 45 balls.
Marlon Samuels and Ramnaresh Sarwan gave the home team its most productive association, adding 82 for the fifth wicket. At times the silky drives and soft glances from the two most attractive West Indian batsmen emphasised their obvious class. But the 20 overs in which they occupied the crease meant the scoring rate was much too slow. Sarwan eventually made 56 off 94 balls with five fours and Samuals soon followed after making 55 off 75 balls with three fours and two sixes. After that, the wheels fell off and Dwayne Bravo's 22 off 20 balls though refreshing was not enough. Big hitter Keiron Pollard who was not chosen for yesterday's game, is sure to feature tomorrow.
SCOREBOARD
West Indies vs India
West Indies inns
K Edwards c Kohli b Harbhajan 21
L Simmons c Singh b Kumar 6
DM Bravo c Sharma b M Patel 4
R Sarwan c P Patel b M Patel 57
M Samuels b Raina 55
DJ Bravo st Patel b Harbhajan 22
C Baugh lbw Harbhajan 16
D Sammy lbw Kumar 4
R Rampaul not out 9
D Bishoo lbw Raina 0
A Martin not out 2
Extras (lb4, w12, nb2) 18
Total: for 9 wkts (50ovs) 214
Fall of wkts: 23, 28, 59, 141, 177, 191, 198, 204, 206.
Bowling: P Kumar 10-1-37-2 (3w), M Patel 9-1-47-2 (2w), A Mishra 10-1-39-0, (1nb, 1w), H Singh 10-0-32-3 (1w), Y Pathan 2-0-16-0 (1w), S Raina 6-0-23-2, V Kohli 3-1-16-0 (1nb).
India Inns
P Patel run out 13
S Dhawan c Simmons b Martin 51
V Kohli c Baugh b Rampaul 2
S Badrinath c Baugh b Bishoo 17
R Sharma not out 68
S Raina c Simmons b Martin 43
Y Pathan c & b Rampaul 10
H Singh not out 6
Extras: (lb3, w3, nb1 7
Total: for 6 wkts (44.5) 217
Fall of wkts: 29, 34, 61, 104, 180, 210.
Bowling: R Rampaul 10-0-58-2 (1nb, 2w), A Martin 10-0-39-2, D Sammy 9.5-0-52-0, D Bishoo 10-1-37-1, D Bravo 2-0-17-0, L Simmons 3-0-11-0.
Result: India won by 4 wkts.
Man-of-match: Rohit Sharma.
