India begin the West Indies tour with win in lone T20

By Ashish Shukla
Port of Spain (Trinidad), June 4 (PTI) Putting up a
splendid all round show, India scored a comfortable 16-run win
over the West Indies in the one-off Twenty20 international to
begin their Caribbean tour on a resounding note here Saturday.
It is India's first win over the West Indies in T20
format as they had lost the previous two encounters at Lord's
and Kensington Oval.
After being invited to bat on a tricky Sabina Park Oval
strip India recovered from a top-order collapse to post a
competitive 159 for six and then restricted the hosts to 143
for five.
Host skipper Darren Sammy had asked second-string India
to bat under helpful conditions for the pacers and he himself
did all the damage with four wickets as the visiting batsmen
struggled to adjust to the bounce of the pitch.
India owed their recovery to top-scorer S Badrinath (43)
and Rohit Sharma (26) as they combined for a 71-run stand for
the fifth wicket after the visitors were reeling at 56 for
four inside nine overs.
Yusuf Pathan (15 off 6) and Harbhajan Singh (15 off 7)
hit some lusty shots towards the end to help India cross the
150-run mark.
Indian bowlers then complimented the good batting effort
from the middle-order with a disciplined performance.
Harbhajan Singh (2/25) took two wickets while Praveen
Kumar (1/27), R Ashwin (1/30) and Munaf Patel (1/35)
contributed in the win with a wicket apiece.
For the West Indies, Darren Bravo hit a-run-a-ball 41 and
Christopher Barnwell sparkled with a 16-ball unbeaten 34 but
that only reduced the defeat margin for the hosts.