West Indies' Dwayne Bravo (left) and Denesh Ramdin celebrate the fall of an Indian wicket during yesterday's first Digicel Series 2009 one-day international at Sabina Park. India won by 20 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the four-match series. - Ian Allen/ Staff Photographer

India's captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has expressed delight with Yuvraj Singh's match-winning performance in yesterday's 20-run win over the West Indies in the opening game of their four-match one-day series at Sabina Park yesterday.

The Indians, who won the toss and chose to bat first, piled up a massive 339 for six from their allotted 50 overs with Singh leading the way with a superb 131. In their reply, the West Indies were dismissed for 319 off 48.1 overs.

"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," said Dhoni.

"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," he said.

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

West Indies captain Chris Gayle said losing the toss played a major role in his team's defeat.

wicket seemed a bit dry

"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," said Gayle.

"We came close and the effort can't be faulted for the way we went about it. I think that we had a good start (to the innings) and a couple of the top-order batsmen got good starts, which we should have capitalised on," he said.

Gayle also commended Yuvraj Singh for the way he executed his innings.

"We must give credit to Yuvraj (Singh) for the way he batted because he started really slow, but this goes to show his power because once he gets himself in he can be very dangerous. He batted really well and set up a good innings for his team," Gayle said.

"It's a small outfield and a flat track and it is difficult to contain him when he is on the go but it was good to get him out at the end," Gayle added.

Gayle was also pleased with debutant Darren Bravo's performance.

"....He did not show any signs of nerves because he also did well in the outfield and I hope he can go on to make a bigger score whenever he gets the opportunity again," Gayle said.