Rain sees West Indies home

A 29 run victory via Duckworth/Lewis meant that the West Indies had more reason to celebrate, but Indian fans will be delighted at the spectacular return of one Sachin Tendulkar, who made a brilliant unbeaten 141 on an unpredictable surface.

India amassed 309 from their 50 overs after winning the toss and electing to bat, despite uneven bounce dismissing several batsmen. In both the DLF Cup matches so far there has been some assistance for quicker bowlers, but so far it has been the batsmen who have dominated proceedings. From the start of the match it was obvious that consistent bowling would make scoring difficult, as Tendulkar watched a length ball dribble past him at ankle height, and Dravid was smashed on the fingers of his top hand when a similar delivery bounced a foot higher than expected.

Much like in the first game however, the West Indian bowlers appeared totally incapable of taking advantage of the conditions. Despite the occasional unplayable delivery from Fidel Edwards and Jerome Taylor, the Indian openers progressed without incident at a run a ball through the opening 10 overs. The introduction of Dwayne Smith finally resulted in a wicket, as Dravid was trapped in front by one that jagged back at him a huge distance, but there was no further joy for the West Indies seamers.

Tendulkar eased into his innings and seemed slightly rusty early on, but a severe lack of pressure from the bowlers and some poor fielding allowed him to play himself into amazing touch. He got off the mark with an edge to the fence, and should have been out in the third over when he edged straight to Chris Gayle at first slip, only to have Baugh dive across and spill the chance. After losing Dravid, Tendulkar was forced off the ground by a brief rain delay and returned in better touch. He recieved 20 overs of support from Irfan Pathan, who played an assured innings of 64 in his number 3 role, and Tendulkar mixed some quiet patches with some glorious strokeplay as he passed his half century.

Pathan was dismissed by Chris Gayle, and Tendulkar took centre stage as wickets tumbled around him, moving past his century and dominating the scoring in the final overs. Low bouncing Jerome Taylor deliveries bowled both Sehwag and Dhoni, but Raina contributed a useful 34 in support as Tendulkar cut loose with two beautiful sixes in the final overs. The great man finished unbeaten on 141 from 148 deliveries, carrying his bat in an ODI for just the second time.

After the innings break, the West Indies came out strongly despite the early loss of Chanderpaul. Chris Gayle carved an aggressive 45 from just 35 deliveries and ensured the run rate stayed comfortably ahead of 6, and when he was dismissed the score was at 98 from just 13 overs. Lara and Sarwan added a further 43 from 41 deliveries before the rain came and removed the chance of an entertaining finish. With the score at 141-2 from the bare minimum of 20 overs the Duckworth/Lewis method was employed, and the West Indies found themselves well clear of the par score of 112, and took an unlikely victory.

The DLF Cup continues on Saturday when Australia meet India.

India 309-5 (50)
Sachin Tendulkar 141* (148), Irfan Pathan 64 (68)
Jerome Taylor 3-64 (10), Dwayne Smith 1-43 (7)

West Indies 141-2 (20)
Chris Gayle 45 (35), Ramnaresh Sarwan 37* (49)
Munaf Patel 1-18 (5), Rudra Pratap Singh 1-39 (4)

West Indies win by 29 runs (D/L method).