Get out of Gayle free card

West Indies' first game of the tournament gave everyone a chance to listen to the refreshing 'Rally round the West Indies' anthem before start of play.

Should the West Indies choose to string all the national anthems of their islands, still be shorter than the Emerald Isle's #IndvsWI #wt20

— Gaurav Sethi (@BoredCricket) March 23, 2014

India chose to field, and their bowlers got off to an impressive start. The fielding was a different story: R Ashwin dropped Chris Gayle on zero.

One billion Indians and the best man for first slip is Ravichandran Ashwin?

— Gary Naylor (@garynaylor999) March 23, 2014

Ravichandran Akmal.

— Aditya (@forwardshortleg) March 23, 2014

"Even Fernando Torres drops a catch" Ravi Ashwin. #IndvsWI #wt20

— Fake IPL Player (@_fakeiplplayer) March 23, 2014

Should Dhoni field at first slip instead?

— Gaurav Sethi (@BoredCricket) March 23, 2014

Dwayne Smith played a truly awful innings, unable to push the ball off the square.

After 18 balls Dwayne Smith had scored 2. After 18 balls Glenn Maxwell had scored 54. #IndvWI #WT20

— Freddie Wilde (@fwildecricket) March 23, 2014

Dwayne Smith looks like a fish up a tree.

— The Middle Stump (@TheMiddleStump) March 23, 2014

Dropping Gayle once is bad enough. But India dropped him a second time - this time Yuvraj Singh the culprit.

RCB friendship at work #Yuvi #IndWI #WT20

— Kallol Sarkar (@kallol_ss) March 23, 2014

You just don't see this quality of cricket when the Associates play ey...

— Liam Brickhill (@Gomorezvidinha) March 23, 2014

Ashwin's diving return catch to send back Smith made amends for his earlier miss. Or did it?

Ashwin dropped Gayle. Took Smith. If the first was a disaster, the second was catastrophic

— Anagh Pal (@anaghpal) March 23, 2014

Not a good idea to get Smith out and Samuels in.

— Gary Naylor (@garynaylor999) March 23, 2014

Swear Ashwin modelled his run up on a lethargic granddad trying to drunkenly avoid smashed glass on the floor.

— Nikhil Patel (@NikhilXS) March 23, 2014

West Indies meandered along without conviction, and were soon in grave trouble when Gayle's amble between the wickets for a tight single caught him miles short.

I want to see a 100 metre race between Chris Gayle, Ravi Ashwin and Samit Patel. #INDvWI

— Alternative Cricket (@AltCricket) March 23, 2014

Hahaha India just used their "Get out of Gayle free card"

— Tony Sebastian (@notytony) March 23, 2014

Marlon Samuels also ran out Lara in his final innings.

— karachikhatmal (@karachikhatmal) March 23, 2014

Love how these tournaments act as showcases for the very best the game has to offer; worldclass fielding and running between wickets #wt20

— 51allout (@51allout) March 23, 2014

Amit Mishra put West Indies in abject misery with the wickets of Marlon Samuels and Dwayne Bravo off successive balls.

"What a googly by the young man, Mishra on a hat-trick!" - Ravi Shastri. Amit Mishra is 31 years old.

— Rameez (@Battameez) March 23, 2014

This is what happens to other teams when Ishant Sharma does not play. They start losing.

— SSJhunjhunwala/Magal (@jhunjhunwala) March 23, 2014

Pre tournament hypnosis on Amit Mishra has brainwashed him into thinking Yeh IPL hai, boss #wt20 #IndvsWI

— Gaurav Sethi (@BoredCricket) March 23, 2014

India's chase was delayed by a long quibble over whether West Indies' final score was 129 or 130. That they got so far was down to some late slogging off Ravindra Jadeja.

Thanks to the confusion over West Indies' score, this is the longest time spent by Rohit Sharma on crease. #IndvsWI

— Psycho (@i_Psycho) March 23, 2014

Why don't they just check @ESPNcricinfo? #IndvWI #WT20

— Freddie Wilde (@fwildecricket) March 23, 2014

Biggest problems facing world cricket: 1) Corruption 2) Fair distribution of TV revenue 3) Counting #WT20 #IndvWI

— Pavilion Opinions (@pavilionopinion) March 23, 2014

Who are we going to fine today for the over-rate?? #wt20

— Vikram Mehta (@MehtaMorphosis) March 23, 2014

Despite Shikhar Dhawan getting a howler early, India never looked like they would struggle. Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma took charge of the chase against some poor bowling.

This is the most one sided game I've seen since Gary Kasparov took on Wayne Rooney at chess. #WT20 #IndvWI

— Wichita Lineman (@_WichitaLineman) March 23, 2014

West Indies are playing warm up matches before IPL.

— Faking News (@fakingnews) March 23, 2014

The only person who can still take this match down to the wire is Ravi Shastri

— The Bad Doctor (@doctoratlarge) March 23, 2014

It did go down to the wire though Ravi had no role to play in it. India eventually sealed the win in the last over, after some artificial excitement courtesy Yuvraj Singh's poor form.