Features

Indian bowlers struck at crucial junctures to derail the West Indian first innings and put their team in command on the second day of the second cricket Test here. West Indies had partnerships going on quite a few occasions but the Indians produced wickets at just the right times which put the home team on the backfoot.

After a great start, West Indies found themselves in a rather sorry state at 197 for six when play came to a close on an extended day yesterday. There were useful contributions from Brian Lara, who top-scored with 52, Stuart Williams (43) and Ramnaresh Sarwan (35) but none of them could stay long enough to produce a big knock.

India, who were all out for 339 earlier in the day, have now to contend with only one established West Indian batsman - skipper Carl Hooper, who was batting on 30 with the host team still 142 runs behind. Mervyn Dillon was the other not out batsman, unbeaten on five. The Indian ploy of going in with an extra fast bowler paid dividends with all the three seamers in the side looking impressive.

Javagal Srinath was once again the pick of the Indian bowlers claiming three wickets for 56 runs while the two left-arm seamers, Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra, claimed a wicket each. Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh also picked one wicket, the crucial one of Williams. West Indies had a flying start to their innings with openers Chris Gayle and Williams putting on 50 runs in only 55 balls. Both the batsmen survived a couple of strong leg-before appeals against Srinath and Nehra and then unleashed a flurry of boundaries on both sides of the wicket.

Srinath struck the first blow in his sixth over when he had Gayle caught by Shiv Sunder Das for 13. Williams continued for some more time, hitting eight boundaries in all before he fell to Harbhajan Singh off the last ball before tea. Williams, who looked in very good touch and had pulled Zaheer Khan for two successive fours, faced 62 balls and batted for 97 minutes.

Sarwan and Lara then put up a fine partnership of 56 runs for the third wicket when West Indies resumed at 80 for two after the tea break. Lara looked to make up for his cheap dismissal in the first Test and played an attractive knock. He was slightly troubled by Harbhajan Singh initially but settled into a fine rhythm soon. Sarwan played the role of the sheet anchor and was very defensive.

The two took the score to 136 when Sarwan paid the penalty for chasing a Nehra delivery that was wide outside the off-stump. He was caught by Rahul Dravid in the slips. Lara reached his half-century with his sixth four, steering Srinath to the third man fence, but got out soon thereafter, edging Zaheer Khan to give debutant wicketkeeper Ajay Ratra his first Test scalp.

The fall of Lara triggered a collapse with West Indies losing two more wickets within the space of 11 balls for two runs. Both Shivnarine Chanderpaul (1) and Junior Murray (0) were adjudged leg before to Srinath, the former being the victim of a debatable decision since television replays showed the ball had pitched way outside the line of leg-stump.

Hooper and Dillon then ensured there were no further hiccups for their team as play continued till more than an hour after scheduled close to make up for the slow over rate of the Indians. However, eight overs still needed to be bowled when play had to be called off due to bad light.

Earlier, Indian innings folded with the addition of 77 runs to their overnight score of 262 for four. Centurion Sachin Tendulkar could score only four runs in the morning before being caught plumb in front of the wicket by Cameron Cuffy for 117.

Cuffy, who had toiled hard through the opening day without any success, struck again in his next over by having Ratra caught behind for naught. V V S Laxman, who resumed at his overnight 21, too, had a shaky start and was beaten outside the off-stump a few times before settling down and playing some fine strokes.

He produced two beautiful cover driven boundaries in successive overs of Mervyn Dillon and grew in confidence as he started middling the ball well. The only concern was that he was running out of partners. 
Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan were out in quick succession to Adam Sanford but Srinath gave good support to Laxman for some time. The two put on 33 for the ninth wicket, which enabled Laxman to raise his second successive half-century in this series. Laxman remained unbeaten on 69.

Scorecard

More Articles