India beat westindies by 9 wickets in their second warmup match

ndia 86 for 1(Karthik 38*, Uthappa 35) beat West Indies 85 (Patel 4-10, Pathan 3-25) by nine wickets

Brian Lara caught and bowled by pathan

India registered a facile win after West Indies, The only blot on the otherwise perfect India card was the failure of Virender Sehwag. He fell to yet another loose drive but the young guns Robin Uthappa and Dinesh Karthik fired as India romped home to a nine-wicket win.

Zaheer Khan, who impressed with his line and length in the opening spell, started off the slide by strangling Shivnarine Chanderpaul down the leg side. Ajit Agarkar continued his recent good record against Chris Gayle, packing him off with a delivery that curved away.

Enter Brian Lara and for a brief while it looked as if he, along with Ramnaresh Sarwan, would launch a counterattack which would lift West Indies out of the early scare. Standing slightly outside the crease, eschewing that exaggerated back and across movement that he occasionally indulges in, Lara went about his task with serenity. He unfurled fluent cover-drives and imperious pulls but the shot of the day was an on-the-up arrogant drive past Agarkar, the bowler. Sarwan warmed up with couple of feisty square-cuts against Agarkar and the duo looked to be in control when disaster gatecrashed their party.

Pathan, despite bagging three wickets, did not look too threatening. First, he struggled with his control, then with his pace - he didn't get to 125 kmph, and there was not much swing either. Slowly, with the West Indies batsmen in a generous mood, he began to get his rhythm back. Even if they didn't bend back in, he got a few deliveries to hold their line and got some to tease the outside edge.

It was Munaf Patel who was the best bowler on view. Bowling close to the wicket, he hit the good length area and moved the ball off the seam. Nagging line and the right length meant he ended up with a rich haul. For the hosts, Daren Powell bowled with purpose. He got appreciable bounce and pace off the track.

West Indies, who have chased successfully in the recent times, chose to test their skills in setting up a target and came up a cropper. Meanwhile, India will leave Jamaica with the Sehwag puzzle still unsolved. The rest of the pieces, it appears, are slowly falling into place.