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India 308 for 7 (Dhawan 97, Gill 64, Iyer 54, Motie 2-54, Joseph 2-61) beat West Indies 305 for 6 (Mayers 75, King 54, Thakur 2-54, Siraj 2-56) by three runs
Trinidad: Shikhar Dhawan led from the front at the bat, while the India bowlers held their nerve to win the first ODI in Port of Spain.
Shubman Gill was in the playing XI in ODIs for the first time since December 2020.
Playing with a point to prove, Gill showed tremendous class as he creamed the West Indies pacers for boundaries inside the Powerplay.
He raced to 41 off 28 in the first 10 overs and brought up his maiden ODI fifty soon off just 36 balls.
At the other end, Shikhar Dhawan was happy to play second fiddle but kept scoring at a healthy rate as the pair brought up their 100-run partnership in just 14 overs.
The skipper too managed to get to his half-century, his 36th in ODI cricket.
With both the batters on song, it needed something special to break the partnership and Nicholas Pooran produced a brilliant direct-hit to dismiss Gill for 64.
West Indies managed to slip in a few quiet overs but the pairing of Shikhar Dhawan and Shreyas Iyer batted steadily to ensure the hosts didn't make any more inroads.
Iyer was peppered with a few short balls but picked the spinners apart.
Dhawan looked destined for his 18th career ODI hundred but a brilliant catch by Shamarh Brooks brought his end to the innings just three runs short of a century.
Iyer (54) too fell soon after his fifty.
With 14 overs to go, India were in complete control at 231/3 and looked on course to posting a mammoth total.
But the West Indies bowlers fought back brilliantly to keep pegging at the wickets and pushing the visitors back.
Deepak Hooda and Axar Patel made valuable contributions to take India past 300, finishing at 308/7.
Despite losing Shai Hope early in the innings, the West Indies chase was off to a great start thanks to a 117-run second-wicket partnership between Kyle Mayers (75) and Shamarh Brooks (46) who set the platform for their teammates.
Brandon King (54) anchored the chase well, bringing up his third ODI fifty while constantly losing partners at the other end.
West Indies needed only 120 runs in the last 15 overs with seven wickets left in the bag. They were looking at a historic run chase but the Indian bowlers had other plans.
First Mohammed Siraj dismissed the dangerous Nicholas Pooran (25) and Rovman Powell (6) soon followed his captain back to the pavilion as Yuzvendra Chahal bagged the first of his two wickets.
Akeal Hosein (32) and Romario Shepherd (39) put a late blitz bringing their side within 38 runs off the target with the last three overs to go.
Despite the late onslaught, the India pacers weathered the storm with Siraj successfully defending 15 runs in the final over.
