Dinesh Mongia edged the very first ball of the India innings past the wicketkeeper for a boundary. Pedro Collins should have had Mongia lbw after a couple of deliveries, but umpire Asoka de Silva turned down the very confident appeal.

Mongia added one more failure to his string of low scores in recent times, making just five runs off 18 balls. He paid the price for not moving his feet and for pushing at a delivery from Drakes, which led to him being caught behind by Jacobs in the sixth over.

Virender Sehwag being the dangerous batsman that he is, struck three boundaries in making 18 off 20 balls. It was Drakes who struck the big blow, having Sehwag caught at extra cover by Samuels in the eighth over. Two wickets in two overs from Drakes had put the brakes on India's run chase.

Rahul Dravid, with the added responsibility of captaining the national team, came out with a positive attitude. He got off the mark with an elegant shot, a delicate flick of the wrists sending the ball speeding to the square leg fence. Dravid drove Collins straight down the ground and made his intentions very clear.

VVS Laxman got off to a slow start, and then in the 13th over played a square cut just wide of Gayle at backward point for a four. In an attempt to repeat the shot, three balls later, Laxman made just seven off 19 balls, and was brilliantly caught by Gayle - a spectacular one-handed catch, diving to his right.

Dravid and Yuvraj have not failed to punish the bowling when an opportunity has been presented to them. The two have so far added 65 valuable unbeaten runs for the fourth wicket. With skipper Dravid in fine form and Yuvraj Singh's exuberance, India are well set to square the ODI series.

After the 25th over, Chanderpaul and Powell were left with the task of rebuilding a floundering West Indies innings (76/4). Powell did not curb his attacking style of batting, and run scoring became easy with Dinesh Mongia and Virender Sehwag bowling in tandem.

Powell had a lucky escape in the 31st over, bowled by Mongia. Attempting another boundary to the mid-wicket fence, Powell hit the ball straight at Sehwag at short mid-wicket, and the easy catch was put down.

But then things were to take a turn in the 34th over bowled by Sehwag. The first ball disappeared over mid-wicket for a six as Powell gave the ball a mighty thump. But three balls later, Powell (29 off 29 balls) paid the price for playing across the line - trapped plumb in front of the wicket. The fourth wicket stand between Chanderpaul and Powell yielded valuable 61 runs in 9.2 overs.

Skipper Carl Hooper replaced Powell in the middle, and Dravid did not hesitate to bring back Kartik into the attack. Hooper immediately got into the act, using his vast experience, scoring a couple of boundaries off Kartik's eighth over.

Chanderpaul enjoys batting against India, and yet again he displayed fine form - bringing up his half-century off 54 balls. Chanderpaul and Hooper were able to rotate the strike freely, and the West Indies skipper pulled Sehwag for a massive six over mid-wicket to make his intentions very clear.

Dravid made yet another bowling change - a successful one too. Agarkar had Chanderpaul (58 off 64 balls) caught behind, ending the 48 runs partnership for the sixth wicket.

Sanjay Bangar sent the Windies innings to a tailspin by claiming the wicket of Hooper and Vasbert Drakes off successive deliveries. Hooper (38 of 30 balls) was taken by surprise by a leg break that bounced a bit too high - and lobbed an easy return catch. Drakes was cleaned up for a first-ball duck with a delivery that reverse swung.

West Indies were 193/8 in the 44th over. Ajit Agarkar then got rid of Pedro Collins (2) with a slower delivery; Bangar taking an easy catch at mid-on. West Indies innings came to an end in the 47th over when Jacobs (9) was run out going for the second run.

It was the astute captaincy by Rahul Dravid, which was well supported by a disciplined bowling attack that has put India in a strong position.

After being asked to bat first, West Indies got off to a slow start on a two-paced track against the bowling of Javagal Srinath and Ajit Agarkar. Chris Gayle hit the first boundary of the West Indies innings in the sixth over, which was bowled by Agarkar.

Gayle stepped up the tempo in the seventh over, bowled by Srinath, hitting the first three balls past the ropes.

The usually explosive Wavell Hinds found it difficult to play freely with the ball not coming on to the bat. Hinds finally got off the mark with the 25th ball he faced, having struggled against the good supply of slower balls from Srinath and Agarkar.

Agarkar forced his way back into the ODI team with an inspirational match-winning bowling performance for Mumbai in their Ranji Trophy clash against Delhi, claiming eight wickets. Even though he was struggling with the line today - bowling four wides in his first five overs - it was Agarkar who made the vital breakthrough.

Hinds’ frustration was mounting, and in an effort to cut loose he hit the ball straight into the hands of Dinesh Mongia at deep mid-wicket. Hinds made just the solitary run off 28 balls he faced.

West Indies could only score 42/1 in the first 14 overs, and skipper Rahul Dravid handed the ball to Kartik to bowl the 15th over. And that proved to be the pivotal moment. With his very second ball, Kartik got rid off Gayle (27 off 38 balls) trapped leg before with a straighter delivery. Gayle was a touch unlucky to be given out lbw by umpire Asoka de Silva – with the ball pitching a shade outside the line of leg.

Marlon Samuels was not at his fluent best, and he struggled to make three runs off 28 balls. He was undone by an arm-ball from left-arm spinner Kartik – the ball crashing into the stumps.

Ramnaresh Sarwan (14 off 38 balls) became Kartik’s third victim, bowled by an arm-ball while trying to whip the ball through mid-wicket. Shivnarine Chanderpaul (13*) and Ricardo Powell (1*) are carrying on with the battle on a pitch not ideal for stroke play.

Trailing 2-3 in the ODI series, India must win this game to stay in the series. Dinesh Mongia replaces Sourav Ganguly, and will open with Virender Sehwag. India have also brought back Ajit Agarkar at the expense of rookie Lakshmipathy Balaji.

India will sorely miss their ace off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, who is injured. Reetinder Singh Sodhi, the young allrounder from Punjab makes a comeback to the Indian ODI team.

In the meanwhile, West Indies have made no change to the team that won in Vadodara. Merv Dillon still remains in the sidelines with an injury.

India: D Mongia, V Sehwag, AB Agarkar, VVS Laxman, R Dravid (Captain), Yuvraj Singh, M Kaif, SB Bangar, RS Sodhi, J Srinath, M Kartik.

West Indies: Carl Hooper (Captain), Chris Gayle, Wavell Hinds, Marlon Samuels, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ricardo Powell, Ridley Jacobs, Corey Collymore, Vasbert Drakes, Pedro Collins

Umpires: EAR de Silva (SL) and K Hariharan, TV Umpire: I Sivaram, Match Referee: MJ Procter (SA)