Sarwan steals the show from Ajit

Cometh the hour, cometh the man. It was, in fact, the the last ball when rising star Ramnaresh Sarwan struck Ajit Agarkar to the extra-cover...

Cometh the hour, cometh the man. It was, in fact, the the last ball when rising star Ramnaresh Sarwan struck Ajit Agarkar to the extra-cover fence to script a sensational four-wicket victory for West Indies in the first of the seven one-day international match against India here at Keenan Stadium on Wednesday. With six runs required off the last over and the entire stadium literally on fire because of the unsavoury act of the irrate crowd, the Caribbeans needed nothing less than a miraculous effort to win the match. The task became further difficult as a clueless Ridley Jacobs wasted two deliveries in a row before being run out by bowler Agarkar. But at this critical juncture, the 22-year-old Sarwan showed nerves of steel in this steel city to author the breath-taking victory of his side.

It was not just the decisive boundary. In fact, the Guyanese played a majestic unbeaten knock of 83, which turned out to be his highest in the instant variety of the game, bettering his previous highest of 52. It was only natural that Sarwan, who is regarded as the most talented batsman of the side, won the man of the mach award, which earned him Rs 35,000. His 90-ball knock was embellished with six hits to the ropes and three over it.

SCOREBOARD

INDIA: V Sehwag c&b Drakes 28, S Ganguly b Collins 16, A Agarkar c Gayle b Collins 95, VVS Laxman b Nagamootoo 47, R Dravid not out 46, Y Singh c Gayle b Hooper 4, J Yadav b Dillon 0, M Kaif not out 31; Extras: (b-4, lb-6, w-5, nb-1) 16
Total: (For 6 wkts, in 50 overs) 283
Fall of wickets: 1-43, 2-49, 3-147, 4-222, 5-235, 6-236
Bowling: Dillon 10-0-64-1, Collins 10-1-40-2, Drakes 10-1-62-1, Hooper 10-2-46-1, Nagamootoo 8-1-45-1, Gayle 2-0-16-0

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WEST INDIES: W Hinds c Dravid b Nehra 93, C Gayle c Yadav b Agarkar 7, M Samuels b Kumble 51, R Sarwan not out 83, C Hooper c Yadav b Sehwag 4, S Chanderpaul c Ganguly b Nehra 23, R Jacobs run out 0, M Nagamootoo not out 1; Extras: (b-2, lb-5, w-16) 23
Total: (For 6 wkts, in 50 overs) 285
Fall of wickets: 1-28, 2-114, 3-201, 4-206, 5-277, 6-279
Bowling: Nehra 9-1-50-2, Agarkar 9-1-42-1, Yadav 4-0-22-0, Harbhajan Singh 9-0-68-0, Kumble 7-0-48-1, Sehwag 10-0-37-1, Yuvraj Singh 2-0-11-0

Chasing a challenging target of 284, the visitors were put in a commanding position by opener Wavell Hinds, who missed his second ODI hundred by seven runs, and a rapidly-improving Marlon Samuels, who struck an authoritative half-century, before the fall of two quick wickets saw them sliding down towards the jaws of defeat.

Earlier, a career-best knock of 95 (previous highest 76) by all-rounder Ajit Agarkar and useful 40s by VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid powered India to 283 for six. But the exciting match was marred by the unruly behaviour of the 20,000-strong crowd, which hurled water bottles and food packets on the ground, interrupting the game twice for a cumulative period of over 15 minutes. Surprisingly, their ire was targeted against the Indian players for their sloppy fielding and unimpressive bowling. They also burnt several advertisement banners and threw crackers on to the ground. Things came to such a dangerous state that match referee Mike Proctor had to stop the match and guide the players back to the dressing rooms.

However, good sense prevailed after some time and play resumed even as banners were still burning at a couple of places in the stands.

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Anil Kumble completed his 300 wickets in one-dayers when he claimed the wicket of Marlon Samuels for 51.

After their improved show in the drawn third Test at Kolkata, the win here should strengthen their confidence for the remaining matches of the series. The second match is scheduled at Nagpur on Novemer 9.