PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad CMC – West Indies left it a little too late in their run chase, plunging to a 16-run defeat to India in the one-off Twenty20 International here yesterday.
Watched from the stands at Queen’s Park Oval by talismanic opener Chris Gayle, Darren Sammy’s side failed to overhaul India’s 159 for six, coming up short on 143 for five when their overs ran out.
West Indies were stuttering along at 52 for two at the half-way stage, and never came to grips with the demands of the daunting required run-rate in the late stages.
Left-handed stroke-maker Darren Bravo top-scored with 41 but it required 41 balls while Chris Barnwell’s cameo 16-ball, unbeaten 34 temporarily raised the Windies hopes of a dramatic victory.
Marlon Samuels laboured 29 balls for 27 and though he shared 66 for the second wicket with Bravo, the partnership consumed 67 balls and left the hosts chasing the game.
In contrast earlier, India survived an outstanding spell from captain and seamer Darren Sammy to plunder 72 runs from their last five overs and make up for a dodgy start after they had been sent in.
Sammy snared four for 16 from four miserly overs but Man-of-the-Match Subramaniam Badrinath stroked 43 from 37 balls while opener Parthiv Patel and Rohit Sharma both got 26.
Yusuf Pathan and Harbhajan Singh, who both scored 15 not out, energised the innings at the death by adding an unbroken 25 from 19 balls for the seventh wicket.
Needing to score at eight an over, West Indies managed just 10 runs from the first three overs before Andre Fletcher (11) cracked a straight six to lift the tempo.
West Indies then lost the in-form Lendl Simmons for nine in unfortunate circumstances, adjudged caught at slip by Virat Kohli off off-spinner Ravi Ashwin with the score on 22 for one in the fourth over.
Replays showed the ball, which spun in sharply, clipped Simmons’ thigh before striking the keeper’s helmet and lobbing to slip.
Without a run added, Fletcher followed three balls later in the next over, bowled by seamer Munaf Patel attempting to make room to play through the off-side, leaving the Windies with a mountain to climb.
Samuels announced his arrival with a glorious straight drive off the second ball faced and followed up with an aerial cover drive, but hostilities ceased almost immediately and only 43 runs came from the next nine overs.
Trying to up the tempo, both batsmen then perished in the space of three balls in the 16th over. Samuels top-edged a slog at Harbhajan to wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel while Bravo, who struck two leg-side boundaries off seamer Praveen Kumar in the previous over, was bowled heaving at Harbhajan.
Left with 68 runs to get from four overs after Sammy fell without scoring, Barnwell and Danza Hyatt (14 not out), made a fist of it in an unbroken 50-run, fifth-wicket stand off 22 balls, with Barnwell smashing two fours and three sixes while Hyatt hit a four and a six off seven balls but the acceleration came too late.
Sammy had earlier put the Windies in a strong position to fight for a victory when he snatched the first four wickets of the India innings to leave them fluttering on 56 for four in the ninth over.
However, Badrinath and Sharma combined in a 71-run, fifth-wicket stand off 54 balls, to put the innings back on course.

SCORECARD
INDIA innings
P. Patel c Samuels b Sammy    26
S. Dhawan c wkp. Fletcher b Sammy    5
V. Kohli c Hyatt b Sammy    14
S. Badrinath c wkp, Fletcher b Bishoo    43
S. Raina c Barnwell b Sammy    2
R. Sharma b Barnwell    26
Y. Pathan not out    15
Harbhajan Singh not out    15
Extras: (lb-1, w-10, nb-2)    13     
Total: (6 wkts, 20 overs)    159
Bowling: Rampaul 4-0-38-0, Russell 2-0-26-0, Sammy 4-0-16-4, Nurse 4-0-23-0, Bishoo 4-0-31-1, Barnwell 2-0-24-1.

WEST INDIES innings
A. Fletcher b M. Patel    11
L Simmons c Kohli b Ashwin    9
D. Bravo b Harbhajan Singh    41
M. Samuels c P. Patel b Harbhajan Singh    27
D. Hyatt not out    14
D. Sammy c Kohli b Kumar    0
C. Barnwell not out    34
Extras: (lb-4, w-3)    7  
Total: (5 wickets, off 20 overs)    143
Fall of wickets: 1-22, 2-22, 3-88, 4-92, 5-93. 
Bowling: Kumar 4-1-27-1, Harbhajan Singh 4-0-25-2, Ashwin 4-0-30-1, M Patel 4-0-35-1, Pathan 4-0-22-0.
Result: India won by 16 runs.
Man-of-the-Match: S. Badrinath.