Bravo slays India

ICC World Twenty20

Dwayne Bravo bulldozed defending champions India with bat and ball to hand the West Indies an emphatic seven-wicket win in the Twenty20 Super Eights match on Friday.

Bravo claimed four wickets in India's 153-7 before smashing 66 not out off 36 balls to lead his team home with eight balls to spare in a group E game before a packed Lord's.

Bravo signalled the entertaining win by lofting pace spearhead Zaheer Khan for six as the West Indies gained important points ahead of their remaining matches against South Africa and England.

The West Indies won despite a modest contribution from captain and star batsman, Chris Gayle, who made 22 off 28 balls.

When Gayle departed in the eighth over, top-edging a catch off Yusuf Pathan, the West Indies had moved to 42-2 and reached 61 without further loss at the half-way stage of the innings.

Lendl Simmons and Bravo put on 58 for the third wicket, Simmons making 44 off 37 balls before holing out in the deep off left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha.

The West Indies, needing 39 off the last 24 balls, raced home by taking 16 runs off the 17th over by seamer Ishant Sharma and 15 from the next by Harbhajan.

Earlier, Yuvraj Singh and Yusuf Pathan staged a late rally with 64 off 35 balls for the fifth wicket after India had managed only 66 on the board by the 12th over for the loss of four wickets.

Left-handed Yuvraj hit 67 off 43 balls with six fours and two sixes.

Yusuf made 31 as India plundered 87 runs in the final eight overs.

Bravo struck in his first over when Simmons sprinted back from square-leg to remove Gautam Gambhir with a superb catch.

And in his second over he claimed the wicket of Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni with his first delivery to make it 66-4.

The West Indies return to the Oval on Saturday to take on group favourites South Africa, while India play hosts England at Lord's on Sunday.

Two teams from the group will advance to the semifinals.