Yuvraj Singh made up for the absence of Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Suresh Raina with an explosive century, allaying fears of weakness in the Indian batting order, and led his team to a hard-fought win in the first one-day international against West Indies in Kingston. His 131 from 102 balls, which contributed to a substantial partnership with Dinesh Karthik, helped India recover from a shaky start to post a match-winning total of 339 on a pitch and outfield which were on the slower side.
West Indies chased manfully but none of their batsmen combined aggression with longevity, a blend that made Yuvraj's innings so devastating, and one that is a necessity while chasing a target of such proportions. Three of their best batsmen - Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul - made fiery starts but fell at inopportune moments, causing the innings to hit a speed breaker when it needed a batsman to bat at full throttle but stay the distance. As a result, India were always marginally ahead of the game, if only by a hair's breadth at times, and even though the lower-order caused India's bowlers and fielders to palpitate, West Indies fell 20 runs short.
West Indies made promising progress in their difficult chase, reaching 151 for 3 at the half-way stage, despite the inability of their batsmen to convert quick starts into long and damaging innings, like Yuvraj Singh did for India. Chris Gayle, Runako Morton and Ramnaresh Sarwan made useful contributions but their untimely dismissals left Shivnarine Chanderpaul with a lot to do, as West Indies needed 189 runs off the last 25 overs to win the first ODI against India at Sabina Park. Morton attempted to fill the void left by Gayle. He had taken six balls to get off the mark and focused on rotating strike but stepped up after his captain's departure. He helped steer West Indies to 70 for 1 after ten overs, lofting the left-arm spin off Ravindra Jadeja over wide long-on for six. He and Sarwan had begun a promising partnership when Morton was given caught down the leg side, for 42, off Yusuf Pathan when the ball appeared to have come off the thigh pad.
Yuvraj Singh, by himself, made up for the absence of Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Suresh Raina with an explosive century, allaying fears of weakness in the Indian batting order. His 131 from 102 balls, which included a substantial partnership with Dinesh Karthik, helped India recover from a shaky start to post 339 in the first one-day international against West Indies, on a pitch and outfield which were on the slower side.
A total of such proportions, though, seemed unattainable on evidence of how India batted at the start of their innings. That familiar bugbear of Indian batsmen - the short ball - began to undo the top order once again before the 135-run stand between Yuvraj and Karthik, which had shaky beginnings, gave the innings direction. India's dominance was so untested during the period when Yuvraj was approaching his hundred that West Indies did well to restrict the score to 339, relatively speaking, after India were 253 for 3 in 38.1 overs when Yuvraj was dismissed.
India started briskly, moving on to 25 in the fifth over, before Taylor unsettled Gautam Gambhir with a 92mph delivery from round the wicket that hurried the left-hander and cramped him for room. Gambhir's attempt to hook was feeble and one hand came off the bat as he top-edged a catch to midwicket. Rohit Sharma fell soon after, pulling a less ferocious ball from Baker to Dwayne Bravo at deep square leg. The momentum swung violently towards India in two phases, the first of which was when the spinners came on after the 20th over. Yuvraj attacked Suleiman Benn and Chris Gayle, pulling and slog-sweeping them thrice over the midwicket boundary. India, largely through Yuvraj, who also feasted on Bernard's full deliveries on leg stump, scored 70 runs between overs 20 and 27.
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