Cuttack, Nov 29: India wriggled out of a precarious position to clinch a nerve-wrecking one-wicket victory over the West Indies in the first cricket one-dayer which turned out to be a low-scoring thriller here today.
After restricting the visitors to 211 for nine, India were tottering at 59 for five before riding on Rohit Sharma's 99-ball 72 to scrape past the target with seven balls to spare and take a 1-0 lead.
Rohit took India close to the victory target before getting out with 11 runs to get, leaving it to to the last pair of Varun Aaron and Umesh Yadav to see the hosts through in a game which went down to the wire.
Rohit staged a fine comeback by playing a knock, which was laced with three boundaries and a six, and along with Ravindra Jadeja (38), put on an 83-run partnership for the sixth wicket to set it up for India.
But there was excitement galore as fortunes ebbed and flowed till the very end.
After two wicket-maiden overs following Rohit's dismissal, the visitors had a real chance to wrap it up with the the last two Indian batsmen requiring 11 to finish the task.
There was a lot of drama and confusion between the two batsmen but the West Indies could not dislodge them as India recorded their 10th win on the trot at home, beginning with their World Cup success.
Aaron slammed Darren Sammy for a four before Yadav hit the winning boundary in the same over as the hosts broke into celebrations.
Earlier, India's young bowling attack performed creditably and justified stand-in skipper Virender Sehwag's decision to field as it restricted the West Indies to a modest total.
