India scrap home against West Indies in the opening ODI

Match Report - West Indies v India: 1st ODI, Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad, 6 June 2011

Although India selected a new-look side for the ODI series in the Caribbean, their players are too battle-hardened to be written off against the likes of West Indies. They struggled against spinners on a sluggish track but laboured on to win rather comfortably in the end.

Darren Sammy beat Raina on the coin and elected to bat first. Both teams had interesting omissions; India leaving out Ashwin on a slow track, while Windies ignoring the force of Pollard. After a slow start of 23 by the openers, India started chipping away with the wickets regularly. After Simmons was accounted by Praveen Kumar, Munaf got rid of Darren Bravo by Rohit in the slips. Rohit had earlier spilled a regular chance off the same bowler to give a life to Kirk Edwards.

Edwards did not last long, and he did not look to, as after being troubled by Harbhajan repeatedly, fell to him for a painstaking 21. Sarwan and Samuels though stopped the slide but could not get a move on against Indian spinners. At the half-way stage, West Indies were just 74 for 3 and somebody needed to up the ante. Samuels came to the fore and hit Yusuf Pathan for two cracking fours to signal the intentions.

Raina introduced himself to strangle them again but Samuels did not spare the seventh bowler used, Virat Kohli, whom he dispatched for a six over long-on. Hundred was already up in the 31st over, and acceleration rather than caution was the need of the hour. Sarwan just when he had hit returning Munaf for two fours, perished down the leg side getting a feather to the keeper next ball.

With 10 overs remaining, Windies had only 156 for 4 on the board. This was where someone like Pollard could have done wonders for West Indies, but they still had a well-set Samuels and Dwayne Bravo to do the job. After Bravo’s thunderous six, Samuels creamed Mishra for another over long-on. Before the crowd could see old Samuels in full flow, Raina took upon himself to deny them just that. He bowled Samuels off an inside edge for a well-made 55 (75 balls, 3x4, 2x6).

Harbhajan speeded the fall of wickets and West Indies could only score a below-par 214 for 9. Raina, Kumar and Patel grabbed two wickets each, but the chief destroyer was Harbhajan who took 3 for 32. India, with their batting powerhouse and form, looked set to chase down the target without a major fuss.

India lost Parthiv Patel and Kohli with just 34 on the board, but Shikhar Dhawan and Badrinath took the score to 61 when the latter was caught behind off Bishoo. Sammy and Bishoo did not allow Dhawan and Rohit Sharma to score easily, but they knit together a vital partnership of 43 for the 4th wicket. At 104 in the 26th over, Dhawan threw away his wicket to Martin’s off spin for a promising 51 (76 balls, 3x4, 1x6). It was a vital breakthrough.

Captain Suresh Raina joined Sharma and shut the window of opportunity created by the untimely fall of Dhawan by quickly rotating the strike and sharing a match-winning 80 runs in just over 14 overs. As Sharma completed his 50 in 60 balls, Raina holed out in the deep to give Windies another sniff. He made a quick 43 off 50 balls.

On the last ball of the 45th over, Harbhajan sealed the win by smashing Sammy for six over deep square leg. Man of the match Rohit Sharma remained not out on 68 off 75 balls with 3 fours and a six. For West Indies, Rampaul and Anthony Martin took a couple each. On the day, India proved too strong for West Indies, but the signs are that they can bounce back.

Match Result: India 217/6 in 44.5 overs (Rohit Sharma 68, Raina 43; Martin 2/39) beat West Indies 214/9 (Samuels 55, Harbhajan 3/32) by 4 wickets

Man of the Match: Rohit Sharma