Captain Virender Sehwag on Tuesday applauded Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja for batting sensibly and adding 83 priceless runs for the sixth wicket that were instrumental in India edging past the West Indies by one wicket in a thrilling finish to the first One-Day International in Cuttack. Sehwag was also relieved that tail-enders Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron scored 12 crucial runs in an unbeaten partnership for the last wicket to ensure the win that came with seven balls to spare.

"I was sitting in the same place and not moving. Good to win another nail-biter. Whatever you tell No. 10 or No. 11, they always do what they want to. I just told them to play till the end and whatever happens is fine," Sehwag said. "Rohit and Jadeja batted really well in that partnership [for the sixth wicket] and we should have won it easily from there. But, still, good to end up winning [the game]," said a relieved captain. "We hope to learn from our batting mistakes in the coming games."

Rohit, who was adjudged the Man of the Match, said that the plan was to bat through. "The idea was to play through the innings. But, unfortunately, I wasn't able to finish it. But it doesn't matter now; we've won the game. I needed support from Jadeja at that stage. We played to a plan and he batted brilliantly. Even Vinay Kumar batted really well," he said. "I didn't have much cricket after my injury, but luckily did well in the Ranji games. I am glad I got an opportunity under pressure and managed to pull it through."

West Indies captain Darren Sammy had to endure disappointment twice in four days as his team failed to win despite being on the verge of it. On Saturday, the visitors failed to win the third Test in Mumbai as it ended in a draw with India nine down and one run short of a win.

"Every time you lose, it is quite disappointing. We just didn't have the last spark to take us past the finish line," he admitted. "The opening bowlers did well to give us a start and we fought all the way to the end, but it wasn't enough. We could have done things differently. We bowled 23 extras, but I would like to commend the boys."