Bravo's all-round show sinks India

Let down by their much-vaunted top order, defending champions India flunked their first Super Eight test and sunk to a seven-wicket defeat against the West Indies in the Twenty20 World Cup here tonight.

Dwayne Bravo scalped four Indian wickets with the ball and then returned to hit an unbeaten 36-ball 66, studded with three sixes, to seal the match.

Earlier, Mahendra Singh Dhoni's decision to bat first boomeranged as the Indian top order crumbled and it required Yuvraj Singh's (67) 43-ball blitzkrieg and Yusuf Pathan's (31) cameo to reach a competitive 153 for seven.

Bravo (4/38) and Fidel Edwards (3/24) shared seven wickets between them while laying bare India's frailty against short-pitch bowling.

Leading West Indies' chase, Chris Gayle (22) hit Zaheer Khan for two fours in the first over but had to exercise some caution when Irfan Pathan claimed the scoreless Andrew Fletcher with his second delivery.

Harbhajan Singh began with a maiden over to further straitjacket Gayle and the left-hander decided to go after Yusuf Pathan, only to manage a top edge and Zaheer positioned him perfectly under the skier at short fine leg.

India play England in their next Super Eight match here on Sunday.