The Comeback Men

Sourav Ganguly marked his comeback with a scintillating 98 as India verynearly lost the plot in the dying stages before scampering home to a thrilling14-run victory in the first one-dayer against the West Indies today.

Under enormous pressure to arrest their sliding fortunes in ODIs of late, thehosts rattled up a record 338 for three on a placid track and managed to stopthe Caribbeans at 324 for eight to take a 1-0 lead in the four-match series atthe VCA stadium.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul cracked an unbeaten 149 off 136 balls and almost tookthe game away from the hosts in the high-scoring encounter which entered therecord books for the highest run aggregate of 662 in an ODI match in India.

The visitors needed 20 runs in S Sreesanth's last over but it turned out tobe a tough ask as they managed just six much to the relief of a capacity Sundaycrowd which witnessed a real batting feast.

It turned out to be a triumphant return for comeback man Ganguly who missedhis century by a whisker but proved that he still had plenty of cricket left inhim, unleashing a barrage of strokes on both sides of the wicket.

Put into bat, India's new left-handed opening combination of Ganguly andGautam Gambhir (69) provided a flying start with a 144-run partnership whileMahendra Singh Dhoni (62 not out) and Rahul Dravid (54 not out) also chipped inwith rollicking knocks.

The two teams will now travel to Cuttack for the second game to be held underfloodlights on Wednesday.

Chanderpaul scored his fifth century and opening the innings with Chris Gayle(52), kept the West Indies in the fight till the end but the required run-ratekept climbing steadily and the West Indies fell short in the end.

The West Indies seemed in with a very good chance after Chanderpaul and Gayleput on 80-run opening partnership in 12.1 overs. Chanderpaul then partnered withskipper Brian Lara, who made 31 off 23 balls with two sixes, for a quickfirestand of 66 runs in 44 balls.

Sachin Tendulkar, utilised as the fifth bowler by Dravid, deceived Lara bybowling wide of his off-stump when he saw the rival captain stepping out to lofthim for a six and was stumped by Dhoni.

Chanderpaul lost partners steadily at the other end but mounted an all-outlate assault on the Indian medium pacers Ajit Agarkar and Sreesanth, but finallyit all came to nought.

The left-hander stepped up the tempo and took his team close to needing 64runs in the last five overs. But it all went in vain when requiring 49 off thelast three overs, the West Indies managed to get 34, mainly because ofChanderpaul's buccaneering innings.

India, who lost to the West Indies 1-4 on their previous bilateral series inthe Caribbean and lost 0-4 on the South Africa tour, thus scored amorale-boosting victory in the lead-up to the March-April World Cup.

Ganguly, coming back into the one-day fold after a gap of 15 months, thrilledthe crowd with his strokes before missing what would have been his 23rd centuryby a whisker through a run-out.

He also put on 144 and 70 for the first two wickets with fellow-openerGambhir and a subdued Tendulkar (31) to provide the early stability to theinnings.

Consolidating on this strong beginning, Dravid and Dhoni got involved in arollicking fourth wicket stand to power India to their best total against theWest Indies and fell short of the highest score at this ground by only 12 runs.

India's highest ever against the visitors was 325 for five at Ahmedabad in2002-03 and the highest at this ground is 350.

The left-handed Bengal stalwart and former skipper, playing his first ODIsince the final against New Zealand in the tri-series in Zimababwe in September2005, exquisitely timed the ball and hit three sixes and 11 fours before he wasunfortunately run out while scampering for a quick run at the non-striker's end.

Gambhir, coming in to open the innings in place of out-of-favour VirenderSehwag, made a stylish 69 in 76 balls studded with ten fours. Ganguly andTendulkar kept the pressure on the West Indies, scoring 70 in 78 balls.

The splendid foundation was taken full advantage of by Dhoni, who blasted 62off only 42 deliveries with four sixes and three fours. Dravid joined in theparty and hit three sixes.

PTI