Indian spinners stranged the West Indies top order for runs that eventually led to two early wickets as the hosts struggled to chase 160 runs to win the one-off Twenty20 international here at the Queen's Park Oval on Saturday.
Skipper Suresh Raina deployed his two premier spinners Harbhajan Singh and R Ashwin inside the powerplay, and the tweakers dried up runs for the hosts.
A depleted India began their first assignment since winning the World Cup with the one-off Twenty20 against the hosts West Indies here on Saturday, where Darren Sammy won the toss and invited Suresh Raina's team to bat.
A chance to beat West Indies for the first time ever in a Twenty20 international and an opportunity to impress the selectors should be big enough incentives for the Indian youngsters.
Harbhajan Singh is the most experienced member of the Indian squad as most of the seniors - including regular skipper MS Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Zaheer Khan - are either recuperating or taking rest back home.
West Indies too have had their fair share of problems as the young side led by Sammy is without Chris Gayle, who was left out of the squad due to disciplinary issues.
The all important wicket at the Queen's Park Oval is expected to be low and slow, which is against the strength of the hosts, who rely on pace and bounce.
In the absence of any regular openers, India entrusted the job with wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel and Shikhar Dhawan, while S Badrinath also gets a look in, in the middle order. Bowling looked more settled in the form of R Ashwin, Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar, Munaf Patel.
The hosts will also be testing some youngsters in the form of Ashley Nurse and Danza Hyatt while the rest of the lineup looked the same as the one that played Pakistan.
There has been some rain in the area, but Saturday has so far remained rain-free despite slightly overcast conditions, which explains Sammy's decision to bowl.
