India survive Chanderpaul onslaught to score 14-run victory

Nagpur, Jan 21 (UNI) A fine century by West Indian opener Shivnaraine Chanderpaul (149 not out) went in vain as Indian bowlers did not let go waste the work done by their batsmen, especially Sourav Ganguly and Mahendra Dhoni, as the hosts emerged winners in a thrilling contest by 14 runs in the first one-dayer at the Vidarbha Cricket Association ground here today.

Set a mammoth 339 to win in 50 overs, Chanderpaul held one end up with a brilliant unbeaten 149 while the other batsmen flattered to deceive as West Indies lost wickets at regular intervals.

India are now 1-0 up in the four-match series.

At the end, West Indies ended up with a creditable performance, making 324 for eight in their 50 overs to go down by a narrow margin of 14 runs. The match saw the highest number of runs scored in a one-day match in India, a total of 662 runs.

Earlier, comeback man Sourav Ganguly roared back into form as he smashed the bowlers to all parts of the ground before being run out for 98, unlucky to miss his hundred. Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Rahul Dravid, with a 119-run unbeaten fourth wicket partnership in just 11.5 overs, then took India to their mammoth score of 338 for three.

Dhoni made a 42-ball unbeaten 62 while Dravid made a 33-ball unbeaten 54.

In reply, West Indies were given a flying start with Chris Gayle scoring a rampaging 52, in which he was dropped twice by Gautam Gambhir and Sachin Tendulkar on 2 and 11 respectively, both times of the bowling of Sreesanth.

Gayle, however, perished to Harbhajan Singh, caught in the slips by Rahul Dravid for 52 which came in 46 balls with 10 fours.

Harbhajan then got Runako Morton cheaply for just eight, clean bowling him.

Marlon Samuels with 40 and then Brian Lara with 31 gave good support to Chanderpaul but both perished when it seemed West Indies would make a serious bid for the tall challenge with the former being castled by Zaheer Khan after he had put on 73 runs with Chanderpaul for the third wicket to leave the visitors on 175 for three.

Lara and Chanderpaul then stepped up the tempo with the latter in absolutely brilliant form hitting Sreesanth for a six and four of consecutive deliveries.

Lara showed his class, attacking Harbhajan, hitting the offie for a straight six and then square driving him for a boundary.

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