Openers help India make strong fightback

Day 3:

Post Lunch session

The afternoon session finally settled the opening issue. And even though that sounds premature, the fact that a pair of specialist openers did the job creditably lends support to the move.

Wasim Jaffer and Shiv Sundar Das put together an 80-run partnership. Das struggled for form and was fortunate when Stuart Williams spilled a catch in the gully immediately after lunch. Runs were difficult to come by for the diminutive Oriya opener, yet he dug deep inside himself to withstand the West Indian attack and his bad form. Williams, at fourth slip, grassed Das, who fended at a Dillon delivery that was heading for his chin.

Jaffer, at the other end, seemed completely at ease. His strong back-foot play complimented a cool temperament as he went about finding the fence at will. An exquisite cover drive that brought up the Indian fifty was evidence of the class Jaffer possesses. Runs seemed to flow from one end with Jaffer bisecting the fielders and scoring at a frenetic pace. Skipper Hooper shuffled his field more than he would have done to his cap in a period of ten overs that yielded 49 runs for the visitors.

The third-umpire drama continued on day three as well when Jaffer drove Pedro Collins uppishly towards cover fielder Sarwan, who dived forward and claimed a catch. Jaffer stood his ground and inquired with the umpires who promptly referred to television umpire Billy Doctrove. After a long wait, the green light flashed and Jaffer heaved a sigh of relief. Replays showed that the ball had brushed the grass before settling into the fielder's hands.

Jaffer reached his maiden Test fifty with an audacious cover drive off the back-foot much to the relief of his teammates in the dressing room. His previous highest score was 23, against the visiting South Africans two years ago.

A victim of Mumbai cricket politics, Jaffer has on numerous occasions stood on the verge of Test selection only to lose out to players of lesser ability but those well-connected in the Mumbai cricket circles of power.

Meanwhile, Hooper missed a trick when he persisted with Collins -- who was clubbed for six of the ten boundaries that Jaffer scored - instead of Cameron Cuffy, who didn't give a single run to the Mumbai opener in his opening spell, mixing his length up to flummox the openers.

With the opening partnership blossoming, Hooper started rethinking his strategy what with Dravid, Tendulkar, Ganguly and Laxman awaiting their turn to bat.

But an unnecessary mix-up between the openers led to the dismissal of Jaffer, who answered Das's call for a quick single after playing a Cuffy delivery straight to Chanderpaul. A direct throw from Chanderpaul ended what promised to be a three-figure score.

Jaffer was dismissed for 51 runs off 75 balls, which had 10 boundaries. The knock ensured him a fixed slot at the top of the order for the rest of the series.

India went into tea at 85 for 1 with number three batsman Dravid and Das at the crease, still 207 runs in arrears.

Morning session:

The West Indies lost its last six wickets for 18 runs and folded up for 394 in the first innings, in the third Test against India at the Kensington Oval, Barbados, on Saturday.

With an imposing lead of 292 runs, the collapse, however, failed to trigger off any fears in the host team's dressing room.

A worn down Indian eleven walked out into the middle on a sunny morning with their backs to the walls. With the Hooper-Chanderpaul alliance looking set to extend the lead to the 300-run mark, the prospect of a four-day finish daunted the tourists.

The agony for India continued as Chanderpaul and Hooper picked from where they had left off on Friday, scoring runs easily and cruising to their personal hundreds.

Ganguly then introduced Nehra into the attack and Hooper sent him crashing to the advertising boards thrice to reach his second century of the five-Test series. The skipper's 210-ball century, laced with 15 fours, was his first ever at the Kensington Oval in a career spanning 15 years. Ever since Hooper took over the reins of the team there's been a sea of change in his batting. The talented stroke maker, who was tipped to take over the mantle from the great Sir Vivian Richards, has finally translated his potential into runs.

The West Indian duo went on to pile their second double-ton partnership of the series, punishing a disillusioned and exhausted Indian bowling attack. With the lead throttling towards the 300-run mark, Hooper tried to turn Harbhajan to mid-wicket, failed to read the 'doosra' and holed out to Tendulkar, running in from mid-off to take a difficult, high catch.

The dismissal ended the 215-run Chanderpaul-Hooper partnership, highlighting the glaring mistake of the third umpire the previous day, when he failed to give Hooper run-out while backing up at the non-striker's end. (376-5)

Nehra then moved one away from left-handed Ridley Jacobs, who obediently nicked the ball into Ratra's gloves for a duck.

Running out of partners, Chanderpaul forced the pace to register his second hundred of the series and immediately went down on his knees and kissed the turf.

Nehra then dug one that kicked at Mervyn Dillon, who, in fending it off, offered a simple chance to Das at short leg.

Harbhajan soon picked the remaining three West Indian wickets in a single over to wrap up the innings.

Pedro Collins played a delivery onto his stumps to register his eighth Test duck (392 for 7); next in Adam Sanford was struck on the toe and declared leg-before, giving Harbhajan a chance to get his second Test hat-trick. (393 for 8).

Cameron Cuffy played out the hat-trick ball but later, in the same over, set off for a non-existent run with Chanderpaul failing to respond. The run-out was effected and, following contributions of 51, 65 and 38 from the last six wickets in the series, the West Indian innings collapsed with the last six wickets this time contributing a paltry 18 runs.

Nehra, though expensive in the morning, picked four wickets in the innings while Harbhajan claimed three.

Indian innings:

Shiv Sundar Das and Wasim Jaffer saw off the three overs before lunch without any damage, scoring seven runs.

Scoreboard

Day 1
Day 2