KINGSTON, Jamaica, 20 May 2006 — India captain Rahul Dravid cracked 105 off 102 balls to lead his team to a thrilling five-wicket victory in the rain-hit first one-dayer against West Indies on Thursday.
Dravid scored his 12th one-day hundred and shared in a 123-run fourth wicket partnership with Mohammad Kaif, who struck the winning boundary with one ball to spare to finish unbeaten on 66 after being dropped twice.
India reached 254 for five in 44.5 overs chasing the hosts’ total of 251 for six. West Indies were put in to bat in a game reduced to 45 overs-a-side after rain delayed the start.
India extended their world record for most consecutive One-Day International victories chasing a target to 17.
West Indies opener Chris Gayle stroked 123 studded with 18 fours and two sixes, dominating India’s largely inexperienced pace attack in the morning.
The Jamaican left-hander mixed caution with brute power on a Sabina Park pitch affording early seam movement, adding 87 runs for the first wicket with Runako Morton (23) and 82 with captain Brian Lara (35) for the third.
“It was too tense for the heart,” said Dravid, who was named man of the match.
Left-arm seamer Irfan Pathan got India off a poor start to their tour, bowling three wides and two no balls in his 11-ball first over which cost 14 runs.
Gayle and Morton were cruising at more than seven runs an over until the experienced Ajit Agarkar, included as a fourth seamer, had the latter caught behind.
Agarkar (two for 38) and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh (one for 34) bowled tightly to leave their team chasing 5.6 runs an over.
Dravid said his team had been prepared for a tough fight against a struggling West Indies.
“Any team which has got players of the calibre they have are going to be competitive,” he said. “We also have a young team, we got to keep learning as the series goes on.” Left-arm seamer Ian Bradshaw struck twice to reduce India to 86 for three in the 18th over before Dravid, with neat placements and perfect drives, and Kaif revived the innings.
The 33-year-old Dravid struck nine fours and two sixes before he lofted medium-pacer Dwayne Bravo to long-on.
India still needed 43 runs off 37 balls and eight from each of the final three overs.
However, Kaif, dropped by Lara and Fidel Edwards, kept his focus to steer India home.
Lara said dropped catches and conceding 11 wides and four no balls mainly contributed to the defeat.
“It was a great match,” he said. “We had two great hundreds from Gayle and Dravid. But there are a lot of areas we can improve, especially our fielding.” Heavy water-logging had raised doubts whether there could be any play at all, but the pitch dried up fast due to a new sandy base laid at the ground as part of renovation for next year’s World Cup.
The second game of the five-match series is due to be played at Sabina Park on Saturday.
