Offspinner Harbhajan Singh grabbed four wickets in a warm-up game as India began their West Indies tour on a bright note here on Friday. Harbhajan finished with 4 for 37 off 19 disciplined overs as India dismissed Guyana Board President's XI for 118 on the opening day of the three-day warm-up game at the Everest ground. India survived a few anxious moments before reaching 73 for 2 at stumps in reply, with captain Sourav Ganguly on 40 and Sachin Tendulkar, on 3, at the crease.

Deep Dasgupta was the first man out, beaten by a Travis Dowlin direct-hit to the striker's end from long-off while coming back for a third run. Opening partner SS Das also did not last long, contributing 20 before being caught by wicketkeeper Vishal Nagamotoo off seamer Damodar Dasrath.

Ganguly was caught behind off a Rayon Thomas no-ball when on 13, but then batted steadily with Tendulkar to deny the hosts further success.

Harbhajan was not the only Indian bowler to strike it rich in the tour-opener as pacemen Javagal Srinath and Zaheer Khan, and leg-spinner Anil Kumble shared the other six wickets to keep pressure on the home team. With the top Guyanese players currently involved in the Busta Shield final against Jamaica in Kingston, the second-string team collapsed against the Indian pace-spin combination on a bouncy pitch after electing to bat.

To everybody's surprise, India fielded their probable Test XI, opting to give their first-choice players valuable match-practice before the first Test, starting at Bourda on April 11. Opener Wasim Jaffer was left out of the team, as India opted to continue with Deep Dasgupta opening as well as keeping wickets, in order to accomodate the extra batsman in Sanjay Bangar.

Teams
Guyana Board President's XI 1 Travis Dowlin (capt), 2 Andrew Gonsalves, 3 Krishna Arjune, 4 Narsingh Deonarine, 5 Homchand Pooran, 6 Damodar Dasrath, 7 Vishal Nagamootoo (wk), 8 Hemnarine Harinarine, 9 Kevin Basil, 10 Reon Griffith, 11 Rayon Thomas.

India 1 SS Das, 2 Deep Dasgupta (wk), 3 Sourav Ganguly (capt), 4 Sachin Tendulkar, 5 Rahul Dravid, 6 VVS Laxman, 7 Sanjay Bangar, 8 Anil Kumble, 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Javagal Srinath, 11 Zaheer Khan.

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd