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It was a nightmarish start for the Indians to their second and last tour match as their bowlers were hammered all over the ground by Busta XI batsmen on the opening day of the three-day game here.
Wavell Hinds struck a brilliant 140 while opener Devon Smith missed his well-deserved century by just nine runs as Busta XI smashed 250 runs for the loss of two wickets in the 60.3 overs bowled on a shortened day yesterday.
Coming into the game after a historic Test win in Port of Spain, the Indians decided to leave out six of their main players, including the three speedsters who had played in the second Test. But the depleted attack was exposed thoroughly despite the presence of Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh.
Hinds and Smith put up a 215 run partnership for the second wicket before off-spinner Sarandeep Singh brought an end to the Indians' misery. Sarandeep Singh bowled Smith after which the day's play was called off. Smith batted for 245 minutes for his 91, which included 13 hits to the fence.
However, it was Hinds, ignored by the selectors for the Test series, who gave the maximum thrashing to the Indian bowlers, his blistering 180-ball knock consisting of 19 fours and three sixes.
The two batsmen so completely dominated the proceedings, after Kumble had dismissed opener Darren Ganga for five in his first over, that their 200-run partnership came off just 219 minutes and 208 balls.
Busta XI captain Ridley Jacobs won the toss and elected to bat but the start of play was delayed by nearly three hours due to wet bowling run-up at one end.
Tinu Yohannan, who, along with Sanjay Bangar, formed the new ball pair, found his feet sinking in the ground when he started his run-up. The groundsmen had to be called in and they worked hard to dry up the spot but quite a lot of time was wasted. Play was extended by more than an hour to make up for some of the lost time.
Bangar tended to bowl too short or too full and left-handed Smith, the most outstanding batsmen in the West Indies Under-19 team which toured England last year, took full advantage of it. Smith was in cracking form and thrashed Bangar more than once through the covers and then pulled him to the deep fine leg boundary.
The fast bowlers could operate for only six overs, Busta XI having raced to 35 by then, before the services of the experienced Kumble was summoned. Kumble, left out for the second Test and now aiming to claim his place back, struck almost immediately when he bowled Ganga with a quicker ball, the last of his first over.
But he was severely punished after that. Hinds smashed Kumble for a six into the long-on stands and followed it up with another in the same direction after tea at which stage the score was 90 for one with Smith on 50 and Hinds on 26.
Kumble conceded 65 runs in his 16 overs. The other bowlers fared no better. Harbhajan Singh gave away 37 runs from 12 overs while Sarandeep Singh conceded 44 from his 11.3 overs. Yohannan and Bangar were taken for 53 and 46 runs from 12 and nine overs respectively.
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