TRELAWNY (Jamaica), March 10: India skittled West Indies for 85 runs in a warm-up tie before marching to a nine-wicket victory, plunging the hosts into a crisis four days before their first World Cup match (partially reported in Saturday’s edition).

The Caribbean batsmen were clueless against the sharp Patel, who grabbed four for 10, while left-armer Irfan Pathan received a timely boost to his bowling form after pitching in with three for 25.

The West Indies innings folded in 25.5 overs, skipper Brian Lara's 22 being the highest score with just three batsmen reaching double figures.

India, the 1983 champions, eased to 86 for one in reply off just 18.3 overs after youngsters Dinesh Karthik (38 not out), promoted to number three, and opener Robin Uthappa (35 not out) added 80 runs for the unbroken second wicket.

West Indies’ misery day was completed when Dwayne Bravo bowled a no ball with the scores level.

India's only concerns amidst the near-perfect build-up were their openers. The struggling Virender Sehwag (0) failed again and Saurav Ganguly did not open after going off the field in the 13th over in the morning due to an ankle problem.

Scoreboard

WEST INDIES:

C.H. Gayle c Dhoni b Agarkar 6

S. Chanderpaul c Dhoni b Zaheer 6

R.R. Sarwan c Sehwag b Patel 13

B.C. Lara c and b Pathan 22

D.J. Bravo c Harbhajan b Patel 0

K.A. Pollard c Dhoni b Pathan 2

D. Ramdin c Sehwag b Patel 3

M.N. Samuels lbw b Pathan 0

L.M.P. Simmons not out 9

D.R. Smith c Karthik b Patel 13

J.E. Taylor lbw b Kumble 0

EXTRAS (W-9, NB-2) 11

TOTAL (all out, 25.5 overs) 85

FALL OF WKTS: 1-14, 2-14, 3-53, 4-53, 5-57, 6-61, 7-62, 8-62, 9-80.

DID NOT BAT: D. Powell, C. Collymore

BOWLING: Agarkar 7-1-27-1; Zaheer Khan 6-1-22-1 (3w); Irfan Pathan 6-0-25-3 (1nb, 5w); Munaf Patel 6-0-10-4 (1w); Kumble 0.5-0-1-1.

INDIA:

A.R. Uthappa not out 35

V. Sehwag c Ramdin b Powell 0

K.D. Karthik not out 38

EXTRAS (LB-8, W-3, NB-2) 13

TOTAL (for one wkt, 18.4 overs) 86

FALL OF WKT: 1-6.

DID NOT BAT: S.C. Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh, R. Dravid, M.S. Dhoni, A. Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan, A.B. Agarkar, Munaf Patel.

BOWLING: Taylor 6-0-31-0 (3w); Powell 7-0-21-1 (1nb); Collymore 3-0-11-0; Bravo 2.3-0-15-0 (1nb).

RESULT: India won by nine wickets.

UMPIRES: B.G. Jerling (South Africa) and E.A.R. de Silva (Sri Lanka).—Agencies