Yohannan, Mongia shine
in 7-wicket win

A half-century by left-handed batsman Dinesh Mongia, and a devastating opening spell by seamer Tinu Yohannan, both playing their first match of the Caribbean tour, ensured India a seven-wicket victory over the West Indies in the third one-dayer at the Kensington Oval, Barbados,on Wednesday.

Chasing the West Indies total of 187, the Indians hit up the required runs in 43.5 overs.

The victory -- India's first ever at the venue -- put India one-up in the five-match series. The first two matches at Kingston were washed out by heavy rains.

The surface could not have been held responsible for the low score by the Windies batsmen as they failed to get to the 250-run mark and test the Indian team, loaded with as many as seven batsmen.

Indian innings:

India started their run-chase with Virendra Sehwag, back after recovering from a shoulder injury, and skipper Sourav Ganguly opening the innings. The Indian think-tank finally realised that Sachin Tendulkar’s experience down the order at number four is more important to the team's fortunes than his flamboyance at the top.

Sehwag started in typical fashion, playing his strokes from the first ball. He played an effortless push off the back-foot to the long-on fence off Dillon and sent Cameron Cuffy crashing through the covers for four.

Skipper Ganguly, playing with restraint guided Dillon and Cuffy to the third-man fence for boundaries as the Indian innings seemed to cruise towards the small West Indies target.

In the 11th over of the innings, Sehwag skied Dillon to deep cover fielder Ramnaresh Sarwan after a well-made 21, with the score reading 41 for 1.

Dinesh Mongia, promoted to number three in the batting line-up, and Sourav Ganguly then played cautiously and with minimum risk, never once failing to punish the loose deliveries. Seamer Corey Collymore came in for special treatment from the duo, with Mongia pulling him for four and Ganguly leaning into his deliveries and sending them crashing to the cover-fence twice.

Mongia, with his unflappable temperament -- barring the missed catch by Dillon, played with composure and, in the process, slotted himself as a leading candidate for a place in the Test team to England later this month.

Soon after the duo got India past the 100-run mark, Ganguly, making room for himself, slammed part-time spinner Chris Gayle straight to the cover fielder Carl Hooper to be dismissed for 41 runs even as India seemed to have the match sealed at 109 for 2.

Tendulkar walked out to the middle with the target shrunken by the Mongia-Ganguly second wicket partnership of 68 runs.

Mongia danced down the wicket and slammed a delivery from Cuffy back over the umpire’s head to register his first half-century overseas in the 31st over of the innings. Despite the presence of Tendulkar at the crease, he supplied the fireworks with his strokes as he shared a fifty-run partnership with the master batsman in under 12 overs as the result of the match became a foregone conclusion.

However, the Punjab batsman was dismissed in rather tame fashion, when he played straight at a delivery from Hinds, failed to time the stroke, and Chanderpaul, at mid-off, swallowed the easiest of catches.

Mongia’s 104-ball 74 had helped India gain the lead in the best of three one-day series, as Tendulkar and Dravid completed the formalities, coasting India to their maiden win at the Kensington Oval in eight Tests and three one-dayers.

West Indies innings

India decided to pay heed to history as they chose to field after winning the toss. Their last match here was a disaster, as they managed to score a mere 199 runs and suffered a humiliating 10-wicket defeat.

VVS Laxman, India’s top run-getter in the just-concluded five-Test series was axed in favour of the young Mohammed Kaif.

Virendra Sehwag, Mohammed Kaif, Yuvraj Singh and Dinesh Mongia returned to the one-day squad along with Tinu Yohannan, who teamed up with Zaheer Khan and Ajit Agarkar.

Corey Colleymore replaced left-arm seamer Pedro Collins and all-rounder Ryan Hinds was brought in for fast-bowler Adam Sanford in the Windies squad.

The coin fell in Sourav Ganguly’s favour and he inserted the West Indies on a hard, straw-coloured pitch, which had truckloads of runs in it.

Yohannan shared the new ball with Zaheer, ahead of Agarkar. And the lanky bowler from Kerala bowled an impeccable line to vindicate his inclusion. He angled the ball across the two left-handed openers, Chris Gayle and Wavell Hinds, with a searching first spell.

Hinds flicked Yohannan off his pads to the square-leg fence for the first boundary of the match, with Gayle following suit, driving Zaheer through the covers for another boundary.

Gayle survived a chance when he top-edged Yohannan to fine-leg fielder Zaheer, who made a half-hearted effort.

Hinds, playing at an angled delivery from Yohannan, dragged the ball back onto his stumps and was out for 15.

Ramnaresh Sarwan, awarded a place in the one-day squad for his consistent performances in the Test series, walked in and pulled a short ball from Yohannan to the mid-wicket fence, thereby exhibiting the good form.

In his very next over, Yohannan had Gayle, who, unable to get the bowler away for runs, played a lazy shot to Dinesh Mongia at mid-wicket. Yohannan got his second wicket of the match.

Off the first ball of the 16th over, Lara slogged Harbhajan Singh, failed to get to the pitch of the ball and Kaif, diving forward at mid-wicket, took a low catch.

Showers forced a 20-minute interruption as the West Indies seemed to be in a spot of bother at 53-3. Skipper Carl Hooper and Sarwan then consolidated the innings and rotated the strike, plucking singles and punishing the loose deliveries to mesh a useful fifty-run partnership in 65 balls.

At 140-3 in the 32nd over, Sehwag pitched one on middle and Sarwan, trying to play down leg, saw the ball hit his pads and trickle onto the stumps. He went for 44. The Hooper-Chanderpaul partnership for the fourth-wicket fetched 87 runs in almost 17 overs.

Ganguly, with four specialist bowlers in the side, fiddled with his part-timers to get the fifth bowler's ten overs out of the way. Hooper picked Ganguly over the mid-wicket fence on the tin-roof for a huge six. Hooper pushed Sehwag gently to long-on to bring up his half-century off 49 balls. Three fours and two sixes from Hooper swung the match in the hosts’ favour.

Eight runs later, Chanderpaul slashed at a wide delivery from Zaheer only to be grassed by Dinesh Mongia in the covers. But the left-hander could not ride his luck for long as he was run-out for six.

Hooper cut Sehwag to point-fielder and injudiciously set off for a single. Chanderpaul failed to beat the direct throw from Tendulkar and the West Indies plummeted to 155-5.

With the Indians stepping on the gas, left-handed all-rounder Ryan Hinds tried to slog-sweep Sehwag, missed the ball and Dravid, standing in as wicket-keeper in a bid to bolster the batting line-up, whipped off the bails to give Sehwag his second wicket of the game.

Ridley Jacobs joined Hooper in the middle as the Windies struggled to get past the 200-run mark. The innings spiralled towards further disaster when Jacobs, looking to run Yohannan down to third man, was dismissed, caught behind, for a duck. Home umpire Eddie Nichols's decision seemed dubious, as replays showed no contact between bat and ball and confirmed that the sound was that of the bat hitting the boot.

Yohannan finished his ten overs with 3 wickets for 33 runs, as the Windies batsmen failed to cope with his consistent 'natural' length in the channel outside off-stump.

Agarkar, who bowled a disastrous first spell, came back well at the fag end of the innings, claiming the last three wickets in quick succession to end the West Indian innings at 186 inside of 49 overs.

Agarkar knocked Mervyn Dillon’s middle stump with an inswinging yorker, then trapped Corey Colleymore plumb in front and knocked Cameron Cuffy’s middle stump out of the ground with a reverse-winging yorker. Skipper Carl Hooper was stranded unbeaten on a fluent 76.

The West Indies lost their last seven wickets for 46 runs as India were set a target of 187 to clinch the match.

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