1st Test: India v West Indies at Mumbai, 9-13 Oct 2002 CricInfo Live Report

1st Test: India v West Indies at Mumbai, 9-13 Oct 2002
Anand Vasu

West Indies 2nd innings: Stumps - Day 3,
West Indies 1st innings: Lunch - Day 3, Tea - Day 3,
Live Reports from previous days

INDIA END DAY THREE RIGHT ON TOP
After knocking West Indies out for 157, securing a lead of 300 and asking them to follow on, India let the men from the Caribbean get away to a breezy start in their second essay. The visitors, despite losing a wicket, reached 91 from 27 overs at the end of the third day. They still trail by 209 runs.

Wavell Hinds and Chris Gayle batted with power and fluency, striking a high percentage of boundaries in their opening stand of 60. Gayle used his height to great advantage, lashing the ball through the off side. Hinds was his mirror image, peppering the on-side boundary, especially around the midwicket region, with powerful hits off the back foot.

It wasn’t until the 13th over that a wicket fell, that too against the grain of play. Moving across his stumps too much, Hinds missed a Harbhajan Singh off-break and was bowled around his legs. Hinds made 40 off just 34 balls with as many as nine boundaries.

Gayle continued in his energetic vein and reached 34 while Ramnaresh Sarwan batted neatly for 9.

Earlier, West Indies, resuming on 145/8 after tea, added just 12 runs to their score before being all out. Anil Kumble struck twice, removing Pedro Collins for a duck and having Chanderpaul (54) caught and bowled. Kumble’s 4/51 was second only to Zaheer Khan’s 4/41.

CHANDERPAUL STANDS TALL AMONG THE RUINS
By snaring Carl Hooper with the cleverest of traps, India managed to run through the middle order, reducing the hapless West Indies side to 145/8. Only Shivnarine Chanderpaul, batting on 47, offered the resistance that was needed on the day.

The 49th over of the day saw India break the 44-run partnership between Hooper and Chanderpaul that threatened to make life difficult for the Indians. Zaheer Khan dropped the first ball of the over short, on the leg stump and Hooper went for an expansive pull shot. The ball sailed in the air and went straight down Birthday Boy Sanjay Bangar’s throat at deep fine leg. Hooper made just 23.

A pumped up Zaheer bowled a fiery spell, trapping Ryan Hinds (9) lbw, and followed it up with a slower ball that deceived Ridley Jacobs all ends up. Before the stumper could make a run, he chipped one from Zaheer towards cover where Ganguly ran in well and took a diving catch.

Mahendra Nagamootoo, staunchly resisting the Indians for 56 balls, tried to play an expansive sweep shot against Anil Kumble and only managed a top edge to Harbhajan Singh at long leg.

Chanderpaul, not fluent but never in trouble, soldiered manfully on at his end for 47 as wickets fell at regular intervals.

HOOPER, CHANDERPAUL COME TOGETHER
Sourav Ganguly chose to start the third day with spin from both ends. It was a move that met with mixed success. The real danger man Ramnaresh Sarwan, was dismissed in just the eighth over of the day. Anil Kumble, sending down one of his trademark sliders, had Sarwan (22) lbw after umpire de Silva upheld a vociferous appeal. Almost nine overs later, nightwatchman Merv Dillon was cleaned up by good length delivery from Srinath after a staunch resistance of 21. West Indies reached 91/4 at lunch on the third day.

With conditions overcast at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai, Ganguly would have been tempted to open with at least one mediumpacer. However, given West Indies’ traditional weakness spin, the Indian skipper stuck to the straight and narrow.

Surprisingly, Dillon played Kumble quite adeptly. The tall tail-ender adopted a basic technique, planting his front foot far down the wicket and defending with a straight bat. Eventually, Dillon even mustered up enough courage to go for a big hit, walloping Kumble for a six over long on.

The fairytale, however, did not last forever. When Srinath was introduced into the attack in the fifteenth over of the morning, he struck almost immediately. A delivery that pitched on a good length and held its line was good enough to get past Dillon’s defenses.

Then came the two men who made life miserable for India when they recently toured the West Indies. Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Carl Hooper, who scored 1141 runs between them in five Tests seemed more than confident of reaching 257, the first target for the West Indies.

While Chanderpaul was content waiting on the ball and knocking it into the gaps for ones and twos in his innings of 18, Hooper was ever ready to use his feet and chip the ball over the infield. The West Indian captain was on 17 and West Indies reached 91/4 at lunch on the third day. They still need 166 runs to avoid the follow-on.