Denesh Ramdin scored a wonderful unbeaten 74 to keep West Indies in the hunt till the end, but Ashish Nehra bowled an excellent last

over, conceding only four runs, as India sneaked home by seven runs to make it to the final of the Indian Oil Cup.

West Indies made an all-or-nothing assault on the tall target of 263 and provided fireworks but lost wickets to the growing pressure and their inexperience.

Runako Morton anchored the innings, remaining unbeaten on 42 while the dashers kept coming and falling by the wayside.

The winners will take on hosts Sri Lanka in the day-night final in Colombo on Tuesday.

Earlier, Yuvraj Singh smashed a blistering century under pressure to help India post a challenging 262 for 4 on Sunday.

The left-hander came in to bat in testing conditions after India had lost three wickets for a paltry 51 and had one batsman injured in the early overs of the day-night game at the Premadasa Stadium.

Yuvraj, 23, rose to the occasion, adding 165 for the fourth wicket with Mohammad Kaif (83 not out) to pull his team out of trouble with his third hundred in 120 one-dayers. He hit one six and 11 fours in his 114-ball knock.

The winners of this game will clash with Sri Lanka in the day-night final on Tuesday.

The Indian batting wobbled after skipper Rahul Dravid had won the toss and elected to bat. Sourav Ganguly retired hurt on two after being struck on the left arm by a rising delivery from fast bowler Daren Powell.

Ganguly was taken to hospital for an X-ray and did not bat again.

Venkatsai Laxman was the first to go, caught behind off Powell for seven. A few balls later, struggling Virender Sehwag (six) was given out leg-before off left-arm paceman Deighton Butler.

India suffered another setback when off-spinner Omari Banks bowled in-form Dravid for just 10.

Yuvraj then counter-attacked vigorously to neutralise the West Indies' early advantage. He continued to dominate the attack with a wide range of strokes before falling in the closing overs.

India had been struggling at 84-3 after 25 overs before Yuvraj stepped up the run-rate with his hard and clean hitting.

Yuvraj was caught by Tino Best at fine-leg while attempting to reverse-sweep spinner Narsingh Deonarine, but not before setting the stage for a closing-overs onslaught.

India plundered 89 runs in the last 10 overs to set a stiff target for the West Indies, thanks to Yuvraj and Kaif.

Kaif played a supporting role

remarkably well, rotating the strike during his 103-ball knock which contained six fours.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni made merry in the closing stages, smashing a 13-ball 28 with two sixes.

SCOREBOARD

Scoreboard of the sixth and final first phase match of the Indian Oil Cup match between India and West Indies in Colombo on Sunday:

INDIA

Ganguly retired hurt 2

Sehwag lbw b Butler 6

Laxman c Ramdin b D Powell 7

Dravid b Banks 10

Yuvraj c Best b Deonarine 110

Kaif not out 83

Dhoni not out 28