India cruise to Scots win

Gautam Gambhir hit 85 from 115 balls © Getty Images

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India completed an effortless transition from Test to one-day international mode as they cruised to a comfortable seven-wicket win against Scotland at Titwood, Glasgow.

Chasing a revised Duckworth-Lewis target of 209 in 46 overs, the issue was virtually settled when openers Robin Uthappa and Gautam Gambhir compiled a century stand in 20 overs.

India fielded just three of the side which completed their Test series win against England at The Oval on Monday.

However, the tourists’ one-day specialists stated their claims for the forthcoming NatWest Series against Paul Collingwood’s side - none more so than Uthappa and Gambhir, who saw off some threatening new-ball bowling by Paul Hoffmann and John Blain before taking the game away from the Scots.

Uthappa, who scored 97 against Scotland at the Youth World Cup three years ago, punished them again on his way to a fluent 55.

He faced 59 balls for his half-century and stroked eight boundaries and one towering six over wide long-on before being bowled through the gate by Craig Wright.

Off-spinner Majid Haq also picked up a wicket when he had Dinesh Karthik caught at mid-wicket by Neil McCallum, while Blain produced a brute of a delivery to cut short Yuvraj Singh’s top-flight return for a hard-hitting 38 as the Scots stuck to their task.

However, man-of-the-match Gambhir finished unbeaten on 85 from 115 balls with eight boundaries and a six.

Fittingly, though, it was Rahul Dravid who stroked the winning runs against his old team-mates.

The India skipper starred as overseas professional for the Saltires in 2003 and his cameo appearance was appreciated by the enthusiastic Glasgow crowd before his second boundary carried the tourists to victory with 37 balls to spare.

Earlier, the Scots recovered from a terrible start to set a challenging total after an innings which was twice interrupted by heavy showers.

The home side were in danger of slumping to a humiliating total after collapsing to 49 for four in the 15th over.

Gavin Hamilton led Scotland's recovery

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However, former England and Yorkshire all-rounder Gavin Hamilton showed all his experience in top-scoring with 44 and his fifth-wicket partnership with McCallum put the Scots back on course.

Despite sending down a string of wides, India’s seamers still extracted enough assistance from a green Titwood track to leave Scotland’s top order in tatters.

Ajit Agarkar was first to strike when Navdeep Poonia played around a straight delivery and was trapped lbw.

Opening partner Fraser Watts was next to go when he he wafted at a wide one from RP Singh and offered a simple catch to Mahendra Dhoni.

Haq (11) and Ryan Watson (24) briefly threatened to grab the initiative with some attractive strokeplay but when they went in successive overs, Scotland were in the mire.

The recovery, though, delighted the enthusiastic Glasgow crowd as Hamilton and McCallum added 82 in 18 overs.

Both batsmen demonstrated a combination of common sense in rotating the strike and controlled belligerence against the spin attack of Piyush Chawla and Ramesh Powar.

McCallum opened out with one beautifully-timed straight six and also swept three boundaries on his way to 41 from 65 balls before an bottom edge off Chawla was snapped-up by Dhoni.

Hamilton, Scotland’s most experienced player, took 78 balls to claim his 44, while Wright belted two fours and one enormous six in his 37 from 34 balls as the home side reached improbable heights at 203 for nine.

However, without early wickets, it was never likely to be enough to force an upset.