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ShareKingston: Yuvraj Singh turned on the heat with a blistering century, one that could well set the tone for the series, against the West Indies on Friday.
His 135-run partnership with Dinesh Karthik, a surprise choice as opener, helped India recover from a shaky start after Gautam Gambhir and Rohit Sharma fell early.
Yuvraj made 131 off 102 balls, a knock that contained seven sixes and 10 fours. India needed someone to take charge early in this game and Yuvraj decided that he would be the man who took the bull by the horns.
Thanks to his cavalier approach India posted 339 for six. Under scrutiny for a perceived lack of fitness, Yuvraj used his skill, power and reflexes to put to sword the West Indian attack. He cleared the ropes, almost at will against the slow bowlers and the pacemen, and 82 of his runs came in boundaries. So confident was Yuvraj that he rubbished the theory of the 'nervous nineties'. He moved from 84 to 98 with a scoring sequence of 4, 4 and 6 off Lionel Baker.
In the next over, just after reaching his century, he hit strike bowler Jerome Taylor for four, six and four. Shortly, he subjected Taylor to further embarrassment with two consecutive sixes. He was dismissed in a tame manner -- caught by wicket-keeper Dinesh Ramdin down the leg side off Dwayne Bravo. But one suspects it was the tired muscles rather than any skill on the part of the West Indians that led to Yuvraj's downfall.
Things didn't start off well for the beleaguered Indians. Memories of the fateful World Twenty20 tie, in which the West Indian fast bowlers bounced out India, were still fresh in the minds of the openers when they walked out to bat after MS Dhoni won the toss.
Just five overs into the game Gautam Gambhir decided to dispatch one to the deep midwicket boundary. At least that is what he had in mind. Jerome Taylor came around the stumps and hurled a well directed bouncer.
Gambhir tried to pull but the ball popped up in the air and Dwayne Bravo didn't make a mistake at square leg.
Rohit Sharma, who also failed to negotiate the short ball during the World Twenty20, was the next to fall, the pull shot bringing about his downfall. Sharma looked to work the ball over deep square leg but Bravo was there again to catch cleanly. Another wicket at that stage would have put India on back foot but Yuvraj had other ideas.
