Yuvraj Singh blended the qualities of aggression and longevity to notch up a match-winning 131 which gave the cricketing audience an indication of his stupendous form which was also on display in the recently concluded ICC World Twenty20. After India had lost two early wickets, Yuvraj ensured his approach made up for the absence of Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Suresh Raina and allayed fears of weakness in the batting order. He revived the Indian innings by adding 135 with Karthik for the third wicket, a partnership that laid the platform for only the second ODI total in excess of 300 in Jamaica, which they managed to defend, albeit with a lot of difficulty.

Yuvraj's stay at the crease resulted in a shift in momentum that transpired in two phases, , the first of which was when the spinners came on after the 20th over. He attacked Suleimann Benn and Gayle, pulling and slog-sweeping thrice over the midwicket boundary and India, largely through Yuvraj scored 70 runs between overs 20 and 27.

The second period of acceleration was during the batting Powerplay, taken in the 34th over. India began the five-over spell on 191 for 3 and Yuvraj set the tone by carving Baker to the cover boundary off the second ball before launching sixes over cover and midwicket to take 16 runs off the over.

Though he fell at a time when he looked good to overhaul the highest individual ODI score, the batsmen who followed had the cushion of an already substantial score behind them to push on and consolidate India's strong position even further.