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 The Indian spin attack almost sealed West Indies’ hopes of making a comeback into the series as it bundled out the visitors for a paltry 167 on the opening day of the second cricket Test here today. Anil Kumble bagged five wickets while Harbhajan Singh scalped three victims as West Indies were shot out for a low total for the third time in this series. Despite skipper Carl Hooper’s ultimatum to his players after his team lost the first Test in Mumbai by a huge margin, West Indies put up another spineless batting performance and were unable to cope up with the guiles of Kumble and Harbhajan Singh.
The only resistance came from Hooper himself, who made a good-looking 35 off 38 balls, and Shivnarine Chanderpaul who has been performing consistently against the Indian attack for quite some time now. Chanderpaul managed only 27 today but that was the second-highest score of the innings. Kumble registered his best figures against the West Indies, today’s five for 30 improving upon his five for 104 at Port of Elizabeth in the 1996-97 series. It was also the spinner’s 20th five-wicket haul, becoming only the second Indian to achieve the feat, the first being Kapil Dev who has 23.
West Indies elected to bat on a newly-laid track at the Chidambaram Stadium but the batsmen failed to take the advantage of the decision. Openers Chris Gayle and Wavell Hinds put on 40 runs for the first wicket but the only other worthwhile partnership was that between Hooper and Chanderpaul for the fourth wicket that fetched 55 runs for the team. West Indies lost their last six wickets for 50 runs. They started very slowly with Gayle and Hinds looking determined not to lose any early wickets. The first nine overs produced just nine runs for the West Indies.
Javagal Srinath and Zaheer Khan bowled a tight line and length and with the two batsmen not interested in taking any risks, runs were very hard to come by. It was only after the first hour of the morning session was over that Gayle decided to break the shackles. He hit Sanjay Bangar for three successive boundaries in an over before taking on the spinners Harbhajan Singh and Kumble. But Gayle could not remain at the crease for long. While attempting to loft Harbhajan Singh over the midwicket, Gayle played against the spin and gave a tame catch to Sachin Tendulkar at point. Gayle made 23 and West Indies lost their first wicket in the 25th over.
 The visitors took lunch at 45 for one after which they lost three quick wickets to slip back to 62 for three. Kumble, celebrating his 32nd birthday today, had Wavell Hinds trapped leg before wicket for 18 before Ramnaresh Sarwan played a Srinath delivery on to his stumps after making 19 runs. Hooper and Chandepaul then tried to rebuild the innings in the most fruitful partnership of the day. Hooper, who had criticised his batsmen for their lack of application in the Mumbai Test, looked determined to lead by example and batted positively and was quite impressive against the spinners.
He did survive a couple of close calls but was well in control till Zaheer Khan deceived him with a well-disguised slower delivery. Hooper, who struck six boundaries during his 66-minute stay at the crease, committed himself into the drive early and scooped a simple catch to Sourav Ganguly at covers. The fall of Hooper just before the tea break dealt a severe blow to the West Indian hopes of putting up a good total and their fortunes now depended solely on Chanderpaul. However, the left-handed Chanderpaul, who had tormented the Indian bowlers during the series in West Indies earlier this year, became one of the victims of Kumble in the final session in a devastating third spell that saw the veteran leg-spinner grab four wickets for ten runs in 8.3 overs.
Chanderpaul was beaten by the awkward bounce of a delivery that rose sharply after pitching and edged it to wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel who took a good chest-level catch. Chanderpaul’s dismissal at 135 virtually signalled the end of West Indian innings as the rest of the batsmen caved in meekly. Debutant Jermaine Lawson, who replaced Cameron Cuffy as one of the two changes in the West Indian squad - the other being Gareth Breese coming in for Mahendra Nagamootoo - became the ninth West Indian batsman to score a nought in his first Test match.
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