— Photo: K.R. Deepak

PAYING THE PENALTY: Sachin Tendulkar looks back after dragging a ball from Ian Bradshaw on to his stumps.

Ahmedabad: The West Indies won a thrilling match against India in front of a near capacity crowd at the Motera in the Champions Trophy tournament on Thursday. Marlon Samuels scored the winning runs in the last over of the match and the West Indies entered the semifinals.

The West Indies won by three wickets with only two balls remaining. It had gained such a firm footing after the exploits by its bowlers and fielders that it could afford to take its own sweet time to finish the task in an unhurried manner.

Lara preferred to rest in the dressing room and watch Chris Gayle set the launching pad with a flurry of shots, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Sarwan do their work in a professional manner. Gayle had a lucky escape when Suresh Raina spilled an easy catch at cover off Irfan Pathan. Munaf Patel stood out with his superb line and length, but did not receive much support from the other three seamers.

Harbhajan impressive

The West Indies took its own time to reach the target, not showing an inclination to attack the two Indian off-spinners among whom Harbhajan Singh was very impressive. The 92-run partnership in 126 balls between Sarwan and Morton was a good effort. The West Indies has one more match against England here on Saturday, but having pocketed two more points and taken its tally to four, it became the first team to progress to the semifinals from Group A, leaving India and Australia to battle it out at Mohali on Sunday to determine the second qualifier from the group.

Earlier, Brian Lara won the toss and chose to field first. The Caribbeans excelled in the bowling and fielding departments. With their limited resources they found a way out to stifle the home team's stroke makers. Directing the ball consistently around the off stump was a tactical ploy skipper Lara adopted right through the first session.

The bowlers executed the gameplan to near perfection and allowed the home team muster only a meagre 223 with Mahendra Singh Dhoni clouting two mighty sixes on the on side and posting a half-century.

Fast bowler Jerome Taylor was on the spot and Ian Bradshaw maintained a nagging line. Virender Sehwag gave a flying start for India. But he became Taylor's first victim after India had made 22 runs.

After a slow and watchful start Sachin Tendulkar straight drove and flicked Bradshaw through mid wicket and hit two more scintillating shots on the off side. In between Irfan Pathan fell for a duck, which brought in the Indian captain in the middle with only 27 runs on the board.

Dravid made a lucky start under-edging Taylor. Clearly Tendulkar and Dravid's task was cut out. India advanced positively with the third wicket pair in full control. Then Bradshaw returned for a second spell and struck a big blow, though it was Tendulkar's folly to attempt a reckless shot after doing all the hard work.

Taking command

Dravid and Yuvraj Singh cut off all the frills for 13 overs by which time Dwayne Smith had completed his 10 overs for 37 runs. But the West Indies took command soon when Yuvraj drove straight to Bravo at mid off. Thereafter Smith and the wicketkeeper Carlton Baugh added to India's misery. After turning out to be a handy support bowler to Taylor and Bradshaw, Smith silenced the roaring crowd with an accurate direct hit on the stumps from square leg to signal the end of a very polished knock from Dravid. Soon Baugh triggered a West Indies celebration at Raina's expense.

Chanderpaul was declared `man of the match.'

Meanwhile, Munaf Patel, who bruised the wrist bone of his bowling hand while fielding, was rushed to a local hospital for an x-ray. "That's the reason he was not on the field,'' said Rahul Dravid.

Team sources said Munaf was fine and should be available for the match against Australia.

SCOREBOARD

India: V. Sehwag lbw b Taylor 17, S. Tendulkar b Bradshaw 29, I. Pathan b Bradshaw 0, R. Dravid (run out) 49, Yuvraj c Bravo b Bradshaw 27, M.S. Dhoni (run out) 51, S. Raina st. Baugh b Samuels 19, Harbhajan b Taylor 15, A. Agarkar (run out) 1, R.P. Singh (not out) 0; Extras (lb-3, w-11, nb-1): 15. Total (for nine wkts. in 50 overs) 223.

Fall of wickets: 1-22, 2-27, 3-69, 4-130, 5-131, 6-164, 7-213, 8-223, 9-223.

West Indies bowling: Taylor 10-2-33-2, Bradshaw 10-0-30-3, Smith 10-1-37-0, Bravo 7-0-51-0, Samuels 9-0-35-1, Gayle 4-0-34-0.

India bowling:

Pathan 5-0-34-1, Patel 8-2-29-1, Agarkar 9.4-1-52-2, R. P. Singh 4-0-29-0, Harbhajan 10-1-27-1, Sehwag 10-0-36-1, Yuvraj 3-0-15-0.

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