India reeling after Ramnarine strikes

Leg-spinner Dinanath Ramnarine grabbed three wickets as India were struggling to avoid an embarrassing follow-on after the second day against a Busta XI side on Saturday.

India were 73 for seven at the close of play in their three-day match in reply to the local team's first innings 437, still needing 215 runs to not bat again with left-hander Dinesh Mongia at the crease on a streaky 25 and Sarandeep Singh on one.

Ramnarine sent back Deep Dasgupta, Vangipurappu Laxman and Anil Kumble to drop a hint to the West Indies selectors with extraordinary figures of 15-7-15-3 after Wavell Hinds had staked his claim for a Test spot with a swashbuckling 175.

Laxman is leading the Indian team in the absence of captain Saurav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and the three frontline seamers, Javagal Srinath, Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra.

India had won the second Test at Port of Spain earlier this week to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.

Opener Wasim Jaffer, hoping to impress captain Saurav Ganguly and coach John Wright ahead of the third Test at Barbados starting on May 2, was bowled by Pedro Collins for a first-ball duck.

Dasgupta, who had opened in the first drawn Test at Georgetown, did not last long either. He was bowled for seven by Ramnarine, who managed to get vicious turn on a flat wicket.

MISUNDERSTANDING

All-rounder Sanjay Bangar was run out, stranded in the middle of the pitch after a misunderstanding with Mongia over a sharp single to mid-off.

Ramnarine then grabbed the key wicket of in-form Laxman, man of the match at Trinidad, bowling him through the gate with a ball that kept low.

Paceman Darren Powell had wicketkeeper Ajay Ratra leg before for a duck before Trinidadian Ramnarine put his team firmly on top by beating Kumble in the air and having him caught at silly point.

Hinds had earlier given the West Indies selectors something to think about with an attacking knock that included 24 fours and four towering sixes.

The 25-year-old, yet to establish himself despite playing 20 Tests, added 35 to his overnight unbeaten 140 before he was bowled around his legs by Harbhajan Singh.

Wicketkeeper Ridley Jacobs, dropped for the first two Tests against India after a lucklustre performance against Pakistan at Sharjah earlier this year, added a valuable half-century that will do his chances of playing at Barbados no harm.

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Mail Cricket Editor