Mohammed Kaif en route to his unbeaten 83 on Sunday

Colombo: Yuvraj Singh marked his return to form with a rollicking century as India warded off a spirited fightback by the West Indies to move into the final of the IndianOil Cup tri-series with a nail-biting seven-run victory.

After posting the highest total of the tournament so far of 262 for four, the Indians had to dig deep into their reserves to quell the late resurgence of the young West Indians, just about managing to stop them at 255 for nine.

The islanders needed 12 runs from the last over to continue their giant-killing act but Ashish Nehra ensured that India secured a place in Tuesday’s final by giving away just four runs in the thrilling day-night encounter at the Premadasa Stadium.

The Indians seemed to cruise along comfortably at one stage having reduced West Indies to 112 for six but Runako Morton (84) and Denesh Ramdin (74 ..) staged a remarkable recovery with an 83-run partnership.

The Indians will now take on hosts Sri Lanka in the floodlit final at the same venue. The Indian batting came good for the first time in the tournament with Yuvraj cracking a combative 110 to lift India from a precarious 51 for three. Yuvraj, who missed the previous two matches due to a viral fever, stroked 11 fours and a six and added 165 runs for the fourth wicket with Mohammed Kaif who made 83 not out.

Anil Kumble, playing his first match on the tour, then produced an incisive spell of three for 38 to break the back of the second string West Indian side.

Irfan Pathan (2/34) and Ashish Nehra (2/60) blew holes in Caribbean top order but the latter proved expensive in his return spells before making amends with the tight final over.

The inexperienced Caribbean team did not let the absence of their captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul affect their resolve. West Indies, to be fair, kept up a good rate to keep themselves in the game with a fair shout before running out of steam.

India began their quest horribly, losing their first three wickets for 51 runs by the 17th over and losing Sourav Ganguly by way of injury when a short ball from Darren Powell smashed on to his left-arm.

Virender Sehwag (6), VVS Laxman (7) and Rahul Dravid (10) meanwhile were not worth their reputation in the middle. Sehwag was out of sorts; Laxman typically loose outside the off-stump and Dravid, for the second time, losing his wicket to an off-spinner. Yuvraj gave an early insight into his mindset when he cut and flicked left-arm pacer Deighton Butler for boundaries in the 11th over. Kaif was an ideal foil and the two took recourse to aggression to bail India out of mess.

They batted together for nearly 30 overs, running hard between the wickets and pouncing for big shots on anything loose. They put on 165 runs from 177 balls.