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With their fast bowlers unable to take advantage of favourable conditions, India were left ruing their decision of electing to field as West Indies made a promising start to the series-deciding fifth and final cricket Test here.
On a green-top wicket that was supposed to be tailor-made for fast bowlers, the three-pronged Indian pace attack was found wanting while West Indian batsmen, led by centurion Wavell Hinds, made merry until three quick wickets at the end of the day gave the visitors something to show for their efforts.
Still, West Indies were pretty strongly placed, having closed out day one yesterday at 287 for four with two most prolific scorers in this series, skipper Carl Hooper and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, at the crease.
Hooper once again received a slice of luck early in his innings, something which has become customary in this series, and was unbeaten on 14 while Chanderpaul was batting on four.
India’s plans went awry in the morning session itself when they failed to take any wicket after skipper Sourav Ganguly, on winning his first toss of the series, had invited the opposition to bat.
Part of the blame was to be taken by the new ball bowlers who were erratic with their line and length but a major share of India's problem came from the two West Indian openers who showed tremendous application in putting on 111 runs for the first
wicket , the best of the series so far by either side. Hinds struck his second Test century, a cracking 113, while Gayle was the first to be dismissed for a stroke-filled 68. Ramnaresh Sarwan continued his wonderful run in the series but once again fell after completing his half-century, his fourth in five matches. Sarwan made 65 and added 135 for the second wicket with Hinds before the Indians tasted three successes within a space of 18 runs.
Hinds, who struck 14 fours and two sixes in his 296-minute knock, got a bit ambitious against off-spinner Harbhajan Singh and holed on to long-off where Wasim Jaffer took his second catch, the first being to dismiss Gayle off Zaheer Khan.
Then Ashish Nehra dismissed Brian Lara for the third time in the last four innings, the star left-handed batsman managing only nine runs. Sarwan fell in the next over, caught by Shiv Sunder Das at leg slip, with Harbhajan claiming his second wicket.
Had Das not grassed a relatively straight forward chance of Hooper, the Indians would have been in a much better position. But the diminutive Orissa batsman, who has been struggling with his form in this series, failed to catch the West Indian skipper at short covers and bowler Nehra was left cursing his luck.
Hooper and Chanderpaul, who have scored about 1000 runs between them in this series and have been associated in two double-century partnerships, then saw through the remaining overs of the day.
The West Indians started in an extremely watchful manner with Gayle and Hinds, both hailing from Jamaica and playing on their home ground, scoring only 16 runs from the first 10 overs.
As Srinath and Nehra whizzed past their bats on a couple of occasions, both Gayle and Hinds decided to gauge the pace and bounce of the track first before going for their shots.
Thus the first hour was a quiet one and the scorers were not troubled much. But in the latter half of the morning session, especially in the last half-an-hour, Gayle exploded and unleashed a flurry of strokes to step up the scoring.
He pulled Zaheer Khan to the mid-wicket boundary and then cover drove him in the same over for another four. In a subsequent over from the left-arm seamer, Gayle hit him for two consecutive boundaries to the long-on.
He reached his half-century in the last over before lunch from Harbhajan Singh. Gayle cut the bowler through point for his tenth boundary which brought him on 49 and swept the next delivery to take two runs and raise his half-century. Another sweep off the next ball ran to the third man fence and brought up his 1000 runs in Test cricket in the 22nd match.
Hinds was reduced to playing the second fiddle, and had scored 32 compared to 57 by Gayle by lunch at which point West Indies were 88 without loss. It was only after Gayle was dismissed in the second session, an attempted cut landing straight in the hands of Jaffer at point, that Hinds began to blossom. He reached his half-century with a boundary off Harbhajan Singh and then lofted the off-spinner for a six over long-off.
It was an aggressive batting display by Hinds after that and he hit Harbhajan Singh for another six in the same region immediately after tea break. He quickly raced to his century with some fluent drives and sweep shots and was looking very dangerous when he threw away his wicket.
Attempting his third six, Hinds was unable to get the required elevation and was caught by Jaffer.
That started a mini collapse with Lara and Sarwan, who had been batting very well till then, also getting out in quick succession.
Earlier, India resisted the temptation of going in with a fourth medium-pacer in the form of Tinu Yohanan and opted for the trusted Harbhajan Singh despite the pitch showing a lot of promise for fast bowlers.
Harbhajan Singh was the only change in the Indian team that played the fourth Test in Antigua, the off-spinner coming in place of Anil Kumble who had to return home after sustaining a jaw fracture.
West Indies retained the same side that played in the Antigua Test.
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