Scotland’s players showed admirable powers of adaptability on a rain-hit day, but the Indian bowlers, even if not at their sharpest, and the batsmen carried far too many guns for the home side as they stamped their authority in telling fashion.

Asked to bat, the home side recovered well from a wobbly 49 for four to post 203 for nine in 46 overs after four overs were deducted due to two rain-enforced delays. Led by solid half-centuries from Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa, India hunted down the revised target of 209 runs as per the Duckworth-Lewis system, losing just three wickets.

Intial jitters
After initial jitters, Uthappa, who did not get an opportunity in the one-day series in Belfast, and Gambhir played some forceful strokes all around the park and added 104 for the opening wicket.

The burgeoning alliance was snapped when Uthappa completely missed the line against Craig Wright to be castled. After the quick departure of Dinesh Kaarrthick, Gambhir forged an effective partnership with Yuvraj Singh, the latter tore the Scotland attack with superb power hitting.

Gambhir was also no less impressive, showing lots of patience to stay on till the end and marshall the chase.
Earlier, three of India’s bowlers -- Ajit Agarkar, Munaf Patel and Piyush Chawla -- took the field without much match practice under their belt, but they made light of their rustiness and stubborn Scottish resistance to come up with a reasonable performance that should please the team management ahead of the one-day series against England.

Agarkar, who last played an international in Belfast nearly two months ago, started off with a wide, but he soon regained his rhythm, an important part of his bowling.

Early breakthrough
The Mumbaikar earned the first breakthrough when he trapped opener Navdeep Poonia in front with a straighter one. Rudra Pratap Singh followed it up with the dismissal of Fraser Watts.

Host skipper Ryan Watson played some confident strokes, indicating a long stay at the crease, before he was dismissed in dramatic situation, not unlike Kevin Pietersen's dismissal at Trent Bridge. Watson first played Patel uppishly to cover, where RP Singh made a tumbling effort, only for the umpires to call the batsman back after checking the replays.

Just two balls later, Watson failed to keep a flick down for Chawla to finish the formalities at square-leg. That was the only silver lining for Patel, playing his first international after being sent back midway through the Bangladesh tour due to a lower back strain. Gavin Hamilton and Niall McCallum saved the home side the blushes with a gritty partnership worth 82 for the fifth wicket. The feature of their stand was the way they negotiated the Indian spinners, Chawla and Ramesh Powar.

Good footwork
The duo displayed good footwork and employed the sweep to great effect, determined not to allow the tweakers to settle into any sort of rhythm. However, Chawla brought the curtains down on the swelling partnership, jettisoning McCallum.

Hamilton and Craig Wright continued the good work during their seventh-wicket partnership, the former shifting the gears and playing with more liberty. But he missed out on a well-deserved half-century as Agarkar bowled him.

Wright played some aggressive shots -- including a towering hit for six off Agarkar -- to give Scotland the impetus to go past the 200-run mark, but the total was always going to be inadequate against a strong batting line-up.

SCORE BOARD
SCOTLAND
Poonia lbw Agarkar 1
(7b)

Watts c Dhoni b RP Singh 6
(28b)

Watson c Chawla b Patel 24
(32b, 3x4)

Haq c Chawla b RP Singh 11
(18b, 2x4)

Hamilton b Agarkar 44
(78b, 3x4)

McCallum c Dhoni b Chawla 41
(65b, 3x4, 1x6)

Smith lbw Chawla 4
(8b, 1x4)

Wright (run out) 37
(34b, 2x4, 1x6)

Blain c Chawla b Patel 4
(4b)

Hoffman (not out) 5
(4b)

Nel (not out) 0
(0b)

Extras (B-2, LB-2, W-20, NB-2) 26

Total (for 9 wkts, 46 overs) 203

Fall of wickets: 1-9 (Poonia) 2-22 (Watts), 3-49 (Watson), 4-49 (Haq), 5-131 (McCallum), 6-146 (Smith), 7-179 (Hamilton), 8-199 (Wright), 9-200 (Blain).

Bowling: Agarkar 9-0-54-2 (w-5), RP Singh 9-0-26-2 (w-5), Patel 9-0-36-2 (nb-2, w-7), Chawla 10-0-42-2, Powar 9-0-41-0 (w-3).

Scoring pattern: 5 overs: 12/1, 10: 34/2, 15: 51/4, 20: 67/4, 25: 91/4, 30: 113/4, 35: 131/4, 40: 160/6, 45: 193/7, end of innings: 203/9 in 46 overs.

Runs during: Power Play 1: 1-10 overs: 34/2, Power Play 2: 11-15 overs: 17/2, Power Play 3: 16-20 overs: 16/0.
INDIA (209 in 46)

Uthappa b Wright 55
(62b, 8x4, 1x6)

Gambhir (not out) 85
(115b, 8x4, 1x6)

Kaarthick c McCallum b Haq 14
(26b, 2x4)

Yuvraj b Blain 38
(28b, 5x4, 1x6)

Dravid (not out) 10
(8b, 2x4)

Extras (LB-2, W-8) 10

Total (for 3 wkts, 39.5 overs) 212
Fall of wickets: 1-104 (Uthappa), 2-157 (Kaarthick), 3-198 (Yuvraj).

Bowling: Hoffman 9-0-43-0 (w-3), Blain 8.5-2-41-1, Nel 6-0-48-0 (w-4), Wright 10-1-46-1 (w-1), Haq 6-0-32-1.
Scoring pattern: 5 overs: 13/0, 10: 38/0, 15: 71/0, 20: 98/0, 25: 124/1, 30: 137/2, 35: 184/2, end of Innings: 212/3 in 39.5 overs.

Runs during: Power Play 1: 1-10 overs: 38/0, Power Play 2: 12-16 overs: 29/0, Power Play 3: 17-19 overs: 9/0.