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25 overs India 143 for 2 (Yuvraj 58*, Karthik 57*) v West Indies

	Dinesh Karthik marked his return to the ODI side with a fluent half-century © Associated Press
Related Links Player/Officials: Dinesh Karthik | Yuvraj Singh Matches: West Indies v India at Kingston Series/Tournaments: India tour of West Indies Teams: India | West Indies

That familiar bugbear of Indian batsmen - the short ball - began to undo the top order once again in Jamaica before a partnership between Dinesh Karthik and Yuvraj Singh built a sound platform in the first one-day international against West Indies. India's revival was nervous early on but by the halfway stage the batsmen were dominant and Yuvraj was beginning to reach his six-hitting best.

Jerome Taylor, who was part of the attack that exploited India's ineptness against the rising delivery during the World Twenty20, resorted to the approach once again despite the Sabina Park pitch being far slower than the one at Lord's. He hurried the batsmen with pace, beat them with seam movement, and proved extremely hard to score off by giving the batsmen nothing to drive or cut. Unfortunately for West Indies, the pressure Taylor created dissipated because there was none forthcoming from the other end with Lionel Baker, Dwayne Bravo and David Bernard unable to bowl economically.

India started briskly, moving on to 25 in the fifth over, before Taylor unsettled Gautam Gambhir with a 92mph delivery from round the wicket that hurried the left-hander and cramped him for room. Gambhir's attempt to hook was feeble and one hand came off the bat as he top-edged a catch to midwicket. Rohit Sharma fell soon after, pulling a less ferocious ball from Baker to Dwayne Bravo at deep square leg.

The run-rate slowed as Karthik, opening in Virender Sehwag's absence, and Yuvraj attempted to rebuild the innings from 32 for 2 on a pitch where the ball did not come on to the bat. Both batsmen struggled early on: Karthik was cut in half by an incutter from Baker while Yuvraj was constantly beaten by short of length deliveries that seamed across him. The moment the ball was full, though, the batsmen took advantage: Karthik drive Dwayne Bravo's first ball to the extra cover boundary and Yuvraj, despite being beaten several times outside off, was able to put away Baker's full offering to the point fence.

West Indies missed an opportunity to run out Karthik when he was on 34 and the batsmen gradually grew in confidence as the danger in the bowling reduced. Karthik added Twenty20 flavour to the sedate pace of 50-over cricket by reaching his half-century with his own version of the Dilshan - a scoop that carried all the way for six over fine leg - against Bernard.

Yuvraj also reached his half-century, racing to it with a flurry of sixes over midwicket against the spin of Suleimann Benn and Chris Gayle whenever they were too full or too shot. The West Indies fielding began to fray against the attack and India were in a prime position to take a firm grip on the game