Port of Spain: Mohammad Kaif and Yuvraj Singh steadied India before M.S. Dhoni detonated partially as the touring side finished with 217 for seven from 50 overs in the fourth ODI here at the Queen's Park Oval.

Kaif (62, 84b, 5x4) and Yuvraj added 80 in 16.2 overs for the fourth wicket evoking memories of the times these fine men have rescued their team.

Then Dhoni (46 not out, 58b, 6x4) put on 61 with Kaif. But, just when it looked like India would reach 230 — a defendable score considering the slowness of the pitch — Dwayne Bravo put the skids on with three wickets.

Bothersome length

On Friday morning, Fidel Edwards and Ian Bradshaw settled into a bothersome length on a track that forbade strokes on the up, after Brian Lara won his first toss of the series.

Sehwag often has little time for the niceties of acquainting himself with the pace of the track — he flashed Bradshaw over a non-existent second slip and wrapped his bat around another to send it between the left-armer and mid-on.

But, disaster was around the corner. Lara posted a man on the point fence for Sehwag, and positioned the six-foot-three-inch Gayle at an unconventional short cover.

Every inch came in handy. Sehwag — denied in his favourite area — hit Bradshaw on the up, Gayle reverse-cupped in that cool Jamaican way of his, and it was 13 for one.

Suresh Raina dropped his hands in the face of an Edwards bouncer, but indulged regrettably in a Bradshaw short ball. The delivery asked for punishment; it got a top-edged cut to second slip instead.

Lara switched his bowlers around, preferring the metronomic lack of pace of Bradshaw and Colleymore on this wicket to Edwards, who despite an opening spell of 4-1-5-0, offered speed to work with when the field was up. Shrewd stuff.

Dravid falls

Dravid — who immediately picked the pace of the pitch and looked behind the stumps for his runs — fell, ironically, in the process. His glide off Colleymore went only as far as second slip, where Sarwan took his second catch. Forty-seven for three in the 16th over as the old firm of Yuvraj — back in the side having recovered from a back spasm — and Kaif reconvened.

Yuvraj batted with an understated magnificence considering the track. The back-lift still was thrillingly high, but he somehow adapted his bat speed with such felicity that he hardly popped a ball in the air — something every other batsman did. The sound of leather on willow was unambiguous: none of the dullness of note that was heard when others struck the ball. Five fours adorned Yuvraj's half-century (52, 78b) — none more splendid than a flick off Colleymore.

Kaif is the ugly sister in the partnership. Nonetheless his short-arm pull off Edwards had a certain beauty to it. Mostly, he ran his ones and twos, and fed off the rare loose delivery. The 25-year-old glued the Indian innings together, allowing Yuvraj first and then Dhoni to play around him.

Yuvraj tried a cute steer to third-man to his disadvantage; there is little cuteness about Dhoni's batting. After struggling initially to work it around, the wicketkeeper found his hitting groove. West Indies hasn't seen too much of Dhoni — he's had some bad luck and a moment of ineptitude thus far. On Friday, he uncorked some of his patented murderous hits. A typically hard-run two brought up Kaif's 50, but he missed one of Bravo's many slower balls.

The slide

The all-rounder caused a slide when he dismissed Irfan Pathan and Ajit Agarkar in the death. Dhoni took charge of maximising the final over — he lap swept the first ball and carved the next for consecutive boundaries.

But, he failed to connect satisfactorily thereafter as only three more came.

The last 15 overs realised 81 runs - 40 more than the previous game.

Earlier, West Indies made three changes to its 11 from St. Kitts: Wavell Hinds, Dwayne Smith and Corey Colleymore came in for Shivnarine Chanderpaul (hamstring tear), Runako Morton and Jerome Taylor.

SCOREBOARD

India: V. Sehwag c Gayle b Bradshaw 11, R. Dravid c Sarwan b Colleymore 15, S. Raina c Sarwan b Bradshaw 7, Y. Singh c Baugh b Edwards 52, M. Kaif b Bravo 62, M.S. Dhoni (not out) 46, I. Pathan c Colleymore b Bravo 8, A. Agarkar b Bravo 0, R. Powar (not out) 0; Extras (lb-5, nb-2, w-9) 16; Total: (for seven wickets in 50 overs) 217.

Fall of wickets: 1-13 (Sehwag), 2-28 (Raina), 3-47 (Dravid), 4-127 (Yuvraj), 5-188 (Kaif), 6-206 (Pathan), 7-206 (Agarkar).

West Indies bowling: Edwards 8-1-19-1, Bradshaw 10-0-41-2, Colleymore 9-2-49-1, Bravo 5-0-32-3, Gayle 6-0-28-0, Samuels 10-1-37-0, Smith 2-0-6-0.

PP1 (1-10): 30/2; PP2 (11-15): 15/0; PP3 (16-20): 24/1.

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