India pipped West Indies by 20 runs in the thrilling first one-day international to take a 1-0 lead in the four-match series here on Friday. Leaving behind their pathetic show in the World Twenty20, Indians came firing on all cylinders as they trampled the West Indies attack to reach an intimidating 339/6, after opting to bat at Sabina Park.

However, defending even such a massive total proved quite a task for the Indians as they just about managed to bowl the hosts out for 319 in 48.1 overs. It was a spirited chase by the hosts, for whom Shivnarine Chanderpaul top-scored with 63 and Denesh Ramdin played a sparkling 29-run knock down the order.

Earlier, Yuvraj Singh (131), shared a crucial 135-run stand with Dinesh Karthik (67) to shape the Indian innings. Skipper MS Dhoni (41), Yusuf Pathan (40 not out) and Harbhajan Singh (21 not out) also chipped in with useful contributions.

With the wicket of Chanderpaul in the 36th over it looked all over for the hosts but their lower order batted with steely resolve and made it an edge-of-the-seat contest. The West Indies required 21 off the last two overs with one wicket in hand but Ashish Nehra removed Ramdin in the first ball of the penultimate over to bring a huge relief for his side.

Ramnaresh Sarwan (45) and Runako Morton (42) did well and got the starts for the West Indies but could not convert those into big knocks.

Jerome Taylor (21) and David Bernard (19), batting at No 7 and 9, respectively, did their best but their effort went in vain in the end. For India, Nehra (3/49) and Yusuf Pathan (3/56) took three wickets each. It was raining sixes as 23 of them were hit in the match. Only thrice a one-dayer has witnessed more sixes.

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