India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni admitted that his side’s casual approach to defending their large total almost allowed the West Indies to sneak home on Friday.

India amassed 339 for six in their 50 overs thanks largely to Yuvraj Singh’s 131 off just 102 balls. That innings proved the difference, because while most of the West Indian batsmen contributed to getting the hosts close, only Shivnarine Chanderpaul registered a half-century.

The end result was a 20-run victory for India at Sabina Park, but Dhoni was left to concede that the match was tighter than the scoreline reflected.

"Most of the guys thought that we had won the game when they were seven wickets down but it was a mistake and hopefully we won’t repeat that," the skipper said. "It was more close than thought."

Unsurprisingly, Dhoni was full of praise for the match winner Yuvraj, and admitted that the left-hander was crucial to the team’s success.

"Once Yuvraj (Singh) gets in he always gives us a good score with a very good strike rate and we depend a lot on him because he bats at a very crucial position for us - at number four," Dhoni said.

"I think that today’s was a very brilliant innings from him, it really took the game away from the West Indies, especially in the second power play.

"It’s a pleasure to have him in the side because he takes the pressure off the lower-order batsmen."

Losing skipper Chris Gayle was equally complimentary about Yuvraj, who eventually succumbed to the bowling of Dwayne Bravo.

"[Yuvraj] batted really well and set up a good innings for his team - on a small outfield and flat track it was difficult to contain him out there when he was on the go," Gayle said.

"You have to give credit to the way Yuvraj batted. He started really slow but that goes to show the power of Yuvraj."

Gayle still felt that the target was within his side’s grasp, but knew his side had failed to capitalise after Chanderpaul’s 63 laid the foundation.

"We came close and the effort can’t be faulted for the way we went about it," Gayle said. "We batted well.

"Darren [Bravo] who was making debut was also impressive. Shiv [Chanderpaul] played a top innings at the top.

"I think if we had won the toss we would have batted first because it is a flat track and the wicket seemed a bit dry."

West Indies were fined for a slow over-rate after match referee Chris Broad found that they were two overs short of their target. As a result Gayle was fined 20 per cent of his match fee, while his players lost 10 per cent.

The second one-day international of the four-match series takes place on Sunday at the same venue.

K Karthik c Ramdin b Bernard 67

G Gambhir c Bravo b Taylor 13

R Sharma c Bravo b Baker 4

Y Singh c Ramdin b Bravo 131

M Dhoni run out 41

R Jadeja c Ramdin b Bravo 0

Y Pathan not out 40

H Singh not out 21

Extras 19

Total (6 wkts, 50 overs) 339

Fall of wickets: 1-25 (Sharma), 2-32 (Karthik), 3-167 (Singh), 4-253 (Dhoni), 5-253 (Pathan), 6-298

Bowling: Taylor 10-1-74-1, Baker 9-0-62-1, Bravo 10-0-66-2, Bernard 8-0-50-1, Benn 10-0-50-0, Gayle 3-0-28-0

C Gayle c Singh b Nehra 37

R Morton c Dhoni b Pathan 42

R Sarwan run out 45

S Chanderpaul c Jadeja b Pathan 63

D Bravo c Sharma b Sharma 8

D Bravo c Singh b Singh 19

J Taylor lbw b Pathan 21

D Ramdin c Singh b Nehra 29

D Bernard c Sharma b Nehra 19

S Benn b Singh 7

L Baker not out 0

Extras 21

Fall of wickets: 1-65 (Morton), 2-100 (Sarwan), 3-151 (Bravo), 4-188 (Chanderpaul), 5-224 (Bravo), 6-241 (Taylor), 7-250 (Bernard), 8-294 (Benn), 9-318 (Ramdin), 10-319

Bowling: R P Singh 7-0-44-1, Nehra 7.1-1-49-3, Sharma 5-0-38-1, Jadeja 7-1-34-0, Pathan 8-0-56-3, H Singh 10-0-56-1, Y Singh 4 -0-34-0

Results: India won by 20 runs.

Toiss: India