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 V V S Laxman fell just one run short of a deserving century but ensured a healthy total for his team as India rode on two century partnerships to post 279 for nine in the stipulated 47 overs in the second one-day match against West Indies here today. Laxman put on 128 for the third wicket with skipper Sourav Ganguly and 105 for the fourth with Rahul Dravid before being stumped by wicketkeeper Ridley Jacobs in an impressive 44th over by Chris Gayle.
Ganguly, who scored a fine 78, became the third Indian and sixth batsman in the world to complete 8,000 runs in one- day internationals when he reached 34. Dravid made a free-flowing 51 from 42 balls with six fours before being run out in the 44th over as India, who were put in to bat by West Indies captain Carl Hooper, stumbled towards the end, losing five wickets for 19 runs in the last four overs.
The match, which was reduced to a 48-overs a side following a 30-minute delayed start due to overnight dew, once again witnessed crowd trouble which held up the game for about 15 minutes. The disruption, which came in the 16th over when some stones were thrown at Ramnaresh Sarwan, forced the reduction of the game by one more over per side. India lost opener Virender Sehwag and Ajit Agarkar with just 20 runs on board, but Ganguly and Laxman batted positively to put the side in a strong position with their fine partnership, a record for an Indian third wicket against West Indies.
 Sehwag fell cheaply once again when he pulled Vasbert Drakes straight into the hands of Mervyn Dillon in the second over of the day. He scored just one. Agarkar, once again promoted to number three, failed to reproduce his magic at Jamshedpur and could manage only six runs before chipping a simple catch to Sarwan at mid-on to give Dillon his only wicket of the match. But Ganguly and Laxman looked unperturbed and gathered runs in an aggressive manner on a good batting track. It was Ganguly who took the lead and quickly reached his half- century.
Ganguly was constantly looking for the big hits but the West Indian spinners, Hooper and Mahendra Nagamootoo, who were operating at that stage, did not give him any opportunity to go over the top. Still Ganguly had a go at Nagamootoo only to be caught by Drakes at long-on in the 28th over. Ganguly faced 99 balls and struck nine fours.
India surprisingly sent Harbhajan Singh to bat at number five but the move backfired. The off-spinner attempted a wild heave against Nagamootoo and was caught by Ricardo Powell after making two runs.
 Dravid, who was in an unusually attacking mood, then combined with Laxman well to take the score to 260 in the 44th over. Laxman raised his seventh half-century in 64 balls with the help of three boundaries. Dravid was always looking to score and even improvised at occasions, like the reverse sweep he played against Gayle for a boundary.
Dravid reached his 50 off just 39 balls but was out soon after. Laxman, who was on 98 then, hit Gayle to long-off and Dravid rushed for a two in order to complete his partner's hundred. The throw from Drakes found Dravid way out of his crease and left Laxman stranded at 99. Just two balls later, Laxman missed a widish delivery from Gayle and was stumped by Jacobs to miss his second one-day hundred by a whisker.
Yuvraj Singh (1), Javagal Srinath (2) and Anil Kumble (2) fell cheaply in quick succession in a bid to accelerate the scoring. Mohammad Kaif remained unbeaten on 12 while Ashish Nehra was not out on two. Scorecard |
