Related Link : India’s Tour of West Indies 2011 : Scorecard of West Indies Vs India, 1st ODI at Port of Spain
West Indies have set a modest target of 215 for India on a good batting track at the Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain. It was slow going for the hosts most part of their innings as their batsmen struggled to show any sort of urgency either through the big shots or through any smart running between the wickets.
It was a dull start against the new ball and both Praveen Kumar and Munaf Patel chipped in with a wicket each to have West Indies at 28 for 2 in the 8th over. First to go was Lendl Simmons (6 from 23 balls) who charged down the track too early to miscue a rising delivery from Praveen Kumar to get caught at mid off. Next to depart was left hander Darren Bravo (4) who got a thick edge to a shortish delivery from Munaf Patel which was nicely snapped up by Rohit Sharma at wide slip. Windies lost their third wicket in the 19th over when opener Kirk Edwards (21 from 45 balls) looking to play a pull off a top spinner from Harbhajan got a leading edge which was caught at slip by Kohli.
The hosts were at 59 for 3 when Sarwan and Samuels got together to put up a solid partnership. The two right handers put up 82 runs before Sarwan (56 from 94 balls with 5 fours) got caught brilliantly by a diving Parthiv Patel down the legside while glancing a Munaf Patel delivery. Samuels went onto score 55 from 75 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes before he inside edged a pull shot off Raina onto his stumps to leave WI at 177 for 5 in 42.4 overs.
In the 45th over, Harbhajan Singh got the big wicket of Dwayne Bravo (22 from 20 balls with a six) with a top spinner that beat his flick shot to have him stumped with WI at 191 for 6. West Indies finished badly at 214 for 9 with none of the players getting any big shots through. Harbhajan Singh was the most successful bowler taking 3 for 32 in 10 overs. Praveen Kumar, Munaf Patel and Suresh Raina chipped in with a couple of wickets each.