India win high-scoring thriller at Kingston
A 131 in 102 balls with 10 fours and 7 sixes from Yuvraj Singh helped India amass 339 for six in Jamaica on Friday in their first of a four-match series of one-dayers, but the determined hosts ran them close to be bowled out for 319 in the 49th over. India's total was the second highest one-day international score at Sabina Park.
Chris Gayle (37) and Runako Morton (42) put on 65 inside 10 overs for the opening stand before Ramnaresh Sarwan (45) and an aggressive Shivnarine Chanderpaul (63) kept West Indies up with the run-rate. They needed 25 to win off the last three overs with two wickets remaining but Rudra Pratap Singh bowled Sulieman Benn for seven in the 48th over, and then wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin, who had kept the score ticking with a smart 29 off 26 balls, was caught by Harbhajan Singh off Ashish Nehra's first ball of the 49th over.
Earlier, deciding to bat first, India lost Gautam Gambhir and Rohit Sharma cheaply, but Karthik (67) and Yuvraj set them on their way to the big total. Mahendra Singh Dhoni (41 of 46 balls), Yusuf Pathan (40 not out off 38) and Harbhajan Singh (21 not out off 13) chipped in with useful contributions.
