India thrash West Indies by seven wickets

Bridgetown, May 29: Dinesh Mongia slammed an attractive 74 to help India break the Kensington Oval jinx with a seven-wicket victory over the West Indies in the third one-day international here on Wednesday.

India faced no difficulty in surpassing a modest West Indian total of 186 for their first success at this venue after losing seven of their eight Tests and both of their one-day internationals before this match.

India owed their win to debutant fast bowler Tinu Yohannan and left-handed Mongia, both starved of a big match for nearly two months after failing to find a place in squads for a recent five-Test series against the hosts.

Yohannan, 23, exploited the early freshness in the wicket to finish with 3-33 off 10 disciplined overs to stop the West Indies from posting a challenging total despite an unbeaten 76 off 75 balls by skipper Carl Hooper.

He was well-supported by paceman Ajit Agarkar (3-36) and off-spinners Virender Sehwag (2-23) and Harbhajan Singh (1-22) as the West Indies collapsed dramatically to lose their last seven wickets for 46 runs.

There was no pressure on India as man-of-the-match Mongia played his shots with freedom to help his team win with 5.1 overs to spare for a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.

The first two one-dayers in Jamaica were rained off without a ball being bowled.

The West Indies came across just one chance to put pressure on India, but Mervyn Dillon failed to judge a Mongia skier off Hooper at mid-off when the batsman was on 17 in a total of 65. 

Mongia, 25, went on to play his shots and reached his second half-century in 16 one-dayers in style, lofting Hooper for a straight four. He hit nine boundaries in his 104-ball knock.

Sachin Tendulkar then completed a formality with an unbeaten 34 in a match reduced to 49-overs-a-side due to rain. Rahul Dravid made nine not out.

The fall of free-stroking Virender Sehwag (21) hardly affected India as Mongia put on 68 for the second wicket with skipper Sourav Ganguly (41), who was caught by Hooper in the covers off spinner Chris Gayle.

Earlier, Hooper smashed two sixes and six fours in his 29th half-century, but his effort was not enough to help his team reach a challenging total after being put in to bat.

India never relaxed their grip on the match after Yohannan had captured two wickets in his lively seven-over opening spell as they bowled and fielded well to contain the hosts.

Hooper added 87 off 100 balls for the fourth wicket with Ramnaresh Sarwan (44), but received little support from the remaining batsmen as Agarkar made a short work of the West Indian tail with the last three wickets off 12 balls.

Yohannan did the early damage when he removed openers Gayle (16) and Wavell Hinds (15) and then returned to remove hard-hitting Ridley Jacobs for nought in his second spell.

The young Indian fast bowler got his maiden wicket in one-dayers in his sixth over when he dismissed Hinds, who chopped a ball on to his stumps.

Gayle fell in Yohannan's next over, flicking straight to Mongia at square-leg to leave his team struggling at 45-2.

Harbhajan got the prize wicket of Brian Lara (5), who paid the penalty for playing one shot too many early in his innings.

Lara stepped out to loft the off-spinner over mid-on, but mistimed his stroke to be caught by a diving Mohammad Kaif at mid-wicket.

Hooper counter-attacked to ease the pressure on the his team, sweeping Harbhajan over square-leg and then swinging medium-pacer Ganguly over mid-wicket for sixes.

He alone did the bulk of scoring after the fall of Sarwan as Indian pacemen and spinners continued to strike at regular intervals.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul, a consistent run-getter in Tests against India with 562 in five matches, and Ryan Hinds fell in the space of seven runs.

Chanderpaul was run out for five as he failed to beat a Tendulkar direct-throw from short third-man to the striker's end, while Hinds was stumped by make-shift wicket-keeper Dravid off Sehwag for three.

Agarkar then ended the West Indies innings with three quick wickets in his second and last spell.