Champions take a beating

The Indian fans have a good time during the Super Eights match against West Indies at Lord's on Friday.

But it was a disappointing end for the defending champions as they were beaten by 7 wickets.

Opener Gautam Gambhir, the third wicket to fall for India, joined his mates in the dug out as he fell to a fast, short delivery.

The left-hander, like his opening partner Rohit Sharma, top-edged a pull shot off Dwayne Bravo and was brilliantly taken by Lendl Simmons, running backwards at backward square leg.

Lendl Simmons celebrates after taking a catch to dismiss Gambhir for 14.

Yuvraj Singh brought some smiles back to the Indian camp when he slammed Fidel Edwards for a cracking boundary straight down the ground, as India reached 40 for three in six overs.

The left-hander brought up his half-century off 37 deliveries with a flicked boundary through midwicket off Benn. He had suddenly changed gears in the last few overs and smashed 22 runs in the last seven deliveries to give India's run rate the much needed boost.

Harbhajan Singh, however, ended the innings in style, hitting three consecutive boundaries off the last three deliveries. He was not out on 13 from four deliveries as India finished on a competitive 153 for seven in their 20 overs.

Chris Gayle made his intentions clear right from the outset when he hit Zaheer Khan for two boundaries in the first over of the innings.

But India struck with an early wicket when Irfan Pathan dismissed Andre Fletcher for a duck, caught at mid-off in the second over.

Gayle gave West Indies a good start but failed to score a big score as he scored 22 off 28 deliveries.

Indian players celebrate after dismissing Gayle in the 8h over.

Harbhajan Singh, introduced in the last over of Powerplay, started confidently with a maiden over against Gayle as West Indies reached 32 for one after six overs. 

After just one over, Harbhajan was replaced by Yusuf Pathan and that move paid off handsomely. Gayle tried to pull a short delivery from Yusuf, but could only top edge the quicker delivery and was caught at short fine leg.

Dwayne Bravo looked positive right from the outset and even played an elegant lofted cover drive off Harbhajan to race to 27 from 17 deliveries.

Despite the wicket of Simmons, Bravo decided it was time to go all out and he launched spinner Pragyan Ojha for a six over long-on off the very next delivery.

West Indies were not far behind the asking rate, having reached 109 for three after 15 overs and needing another 45 from the last 30 deliveries.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Bravo celebrate after winning the match by seven wickets.

Harbhajan Singh was hit for 15 runs in the 18th over as Chanderpaul hit him for two boundaries to set West Indies on the victory path.

Bravo finished it in some style when he played an inside out shot against Zaheer for a huge six over covers to win the match for West Indies. He finished unbeaten on 66 from a mere 36 deliveries, with four boundaries and three sixes as West Indies reached 156 for three in 18.4 overs.