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India hold off Windies in T20

Port-of-Spain - Subramaniam Badrinath hit a top score of 43 off 37 balls on debut then India held off a late West Indies charge to win the one-off Twenty20 by 16 runs on Saturday.

Badrinath's knock propelled India in its tour opener to 159-6 off 20 overs despite a haul of 4-16 by captain Darren Sammy. The 30-year-old Badrinath struck five boundaries.

The hosts were then limited to 143-5 off 20 overs with Harbhajan Singh claiming 2-25.

Darren Bravo top-scored with 41 for West Indies while Chris Barnwell's unbeaten 34 off 16 balls came a bit too late.

Earlier, after winning the toss, Sammy gave West Indies a fine start with his four wickets putting India under pressure at 56-4 in the ninth over.

Shikhar Dhawan (5) was cramped and top-edged to the wicketkeeper at 13-1.

Parthiv Patel and Virat Kohli added 35 for the second wicket before Sammy struck twice in two balls.

Kohli (14) spooned a leading edge to cover while Patel, after striking two fours and a six in 26 off 20 balls, sliced to backward point.

Sammy also claimed his counterpart Suresh Raina (2) to a catch to mid-on.

But Badrinath and Rohit Sharma rebuilt the innings in a fifth-wicket stand of 71 off 55 balls.

Badrinath survived a dismissal off a Ravi Rampaul no-ball on 25 while Sharma was dropped on a return catch by Ashley Nurse at 8.

The pair accelerated the innings as 72 runs were realized off the last five overs.

Yusuf Pathan and Harbhajan Singh both supplied 15 not out in the blitz.

West Indies lost both openers cheaply as it slumped to 22-2 in pursuit.

Lendl Simmons (11) was unlucky to be given out to a slip catch off Ravichandran Ashwin while Andre Fletcher (9) was bowled by Munaf Patel.

Bravo and Marlon Samuels (27) posted a third-wicket partnership of 66 but they required 67 deliveries and the required run rate soared.

Samuels eventually fell trying to hit out at Harbhajan, and Bravo followed four runs later as he dragged on from the same bowler.

Barnwell blasted three sixes and two fours to enliven a sellout crowd of 25,000 but his heroics came too late.

Danza Hyatt supplied 14 not out off seven balls.

The opening one-day international in the five-match series is at the same venue on Monday.

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