Fifth Test: India versus West Indies, Jamaica

Laxman, Ganguly prop India

Day Two

A half-century partnership for the fifth-wicket between VVS Laxman and skipper Sourav Ganguly enabled India to recover from a seemingly hopeless situation and end day 2 in the fifth and final Test against the West Indies on 141 for 4, still 82 runs from being asked to follow-on.

Morning session:

The Indian bowlers managed to see the back of skipper Carl Hooper early, on the second morning of the fifth Test at Sabina Park, but were then forced onto the back-foot by another whirlwind half-century from wicketkeeper Ridley Jacobs as the West Indies reached 381-5 by lunch.

The Indian bowlers bowled a disciplined spell on the second morning, testing the overnight pair of Shivnaraine Chanderpaul, unbeaten on 4, and Carl Hooper, unbeaten on 14, with well-directed bouncers. The first five overs of the morning yielded just five runs, and the pressure, surprisingly, built on the duo, who have six centuries between themselves in this series.

Javagal Srinath summoned all his experience to plan the dismissal of skipper Carl Hooper. The Indian spearhead bowled two bouncers at the Windies skipper, who watched them carefully on their way to the keeper’s gloves. Srinath then bowled a third consecutive bouncer and caught Hooper in two minds. The batsman got into position for the pull shot and then decided otherwise, hanging his bat in the air above his right shoulder, only for the ball to hit the splice of the bat and lob in the air behind the keeper. Rahul Dravid, at first slip, did the rest to see the back of the best batsman of the series, for 17, with the West Indies total reading 292-5.

The wicket was Srinath's first since the second Test at Port-of-Spain -- one of the prime reasons for India's lacklustre performance with the ball in the following two Tests.

Srinath, juiced up by the prized wicket of Hooper, bent his back and sent some short-pitched stuff past Jacobs's chin. An infuriated Jacobs, riding on the high of his century in the last Test, then wielded his willow and clubbed the speedster for a four and a towering six over long-off in a single over.

A defensive mindset by skipper Ganguly saw Srinath taken out of the attack, when therein lay the best chance for India to claim another wicket. Harbhajan Singh bowled all over the place and was punished by Jacobs. He first swept the offie to the fence and then flicked him effortlessly through mid-wicket for another four. The young off-spinner, having picked two wickets for 130 runs, got the ball to turn, but went on the defensive the moment Jacobs went after him. With 118 overs bowled in the West Indian innings, Ganguly refused to use the Tendulkar option.

Chanderpaul, at the other end, was his usual subdued self, playing the odd shot to the fence and then withdrawing into his shell, while Jacobs continued clobbering the Indian attack with contempt.

Sweeping Harbhajan, the burly southpaw reached his half-century off 75 balls with six boundaries and two sixes, taking the match further away from India’s grasp.

The West Indies took lunch at 381 for 5, having scored 94 runs in 31 overs, with Jacobs on 51 and Chanderpaul eyeing another hundred.

Post Lunch session

Chanderpaul, cataloguing the brightest purple patch of his career, scored yet another half-century after lunch, dabbing Srinath down to third man for a couple.

The hectic scheduling of the five-Test series seemed to have taken its toll on the weary Srinath. Chanderpaul collared the Indian spearhead, getting successive fours -- cutting the first one through gully and slapping the next ball past the bowler for another four.

Harbhajan, though, came back looking more menacing then he did in the morning session, bowling round the wicket and almost trapping Jacobs save for a thin inside-edge.

Jacobs, however, didn't last long, losing his wicket to Harbhajan, who bowled a straighter delivery as the left-hander played back and inside edged the ball onto his wickets.

Chanderpaul nicked Srinath to the keeper only to disappoint the Indian fielders as umpire Russell Tiffin turned down the appeal.

Harbhajan then hit Mervyn Dillon straight on his toe and umpire David Shepherd, standing in his 62nd Test, agreed with the bowler. Dillon departed without scoring and the West Indies innings spiraled towards its end.

Refusing to let the disappointment of having Chanderpaul's decision get to him, Srinath found the edge of Chanderpaul to the keeper. Tiffin refused, but was embarrassed when Chanderpaul walked after another dogged innings of 58.

Adam Sanford walked out and decided to wield the long-handle for a few quick runs. Swinging lustily at Harbhajan, he managed to sky the ball high in the air for the bowler to complete the formality of completing the catch.

Nehra then dug one in short at Collins, who turned his face away as the ball took the shoulder of the bat and flew high up for Laxman to take a simple catch in the slips. The West Indies first innings ended at 422.

Harbhajan, who had captured his 100th Test wicket on the first day, finished with his first five-wicket haul overseas, though his figures seemed pretty expensive at the cost of 138 runs.

The tail yet again failed to wag and the last five wickets fell for 21 runs.

Indian innings:

Mervyn Dillon had Wasim Jaffer's wicket when he bowled one just outside off-stump, holding its line and taking the edge to the keeper for no-score.

India's problems were compounded when a delivery from Dillon in his following over kept low and crashed into Rahul Dravid's pad bang in front of the wicket.

The double blow dimmed the lights on an imposing Indian total as Sachin Tendulkar and Shiv Sundar Das, both struggling with their form on the tour, attempted to repair the early damage to the innings.

Dillon welcomed Tendulkar with a half volley, which the batsman disposed off in the most business-like manner to the square-leg boundary. Looking to hit his way out of the bad form that plagued him mid-way through the series after scores of 79 and 117 early on, Tendulkar slammed the next delivery to the long-off fence.

India went to tea on 34 for 2.

Post Tea session:

Sachin Tendulkar made his way out to the middle with the runs not coming in thick clusters as they used to, and without the luxury of Rahul Dravid, dismissed early in the innings, to hold one end up. He fired the first delivery after tea from Cameron Cuffy past point for a screaming boundary. Reading the length of a short ball, he pulled the ball to the square leg fence.

Das, in the midst of a bad patch, played with circumspection, finding the fence with the odd drive, as Tendulkar seemed to settle into his innings at the other end.

Pedro Collins, who dismissed Tendulkar twice in the series, dropped a sharp caught and bowled chance on his follow-through with the score reading 72 for 2. Three runs later, Das played hesitantly at Collins as the ball fell inches short of Lara at first slip. The duo collected 42 runs in the first hour after tea.

Digging into his depthless ambition to score runs, Tendulkar -- on a wicket that metamorphosed into a two-paced devil as the day progressed -- went down on one knee looking to guide an innocuous delivery from Sanford outside off-stump and managed to drag it back onto his stumps.

India's chances of coming back into the game seemed only a mathematical possibility after the dismissal of Tendulkar, for 41.

More drama ensued three overs later. Cuffy pitched one outside off and jagged it back off the seam a long way, striking the outside of Das's pad on line of middle. The ball looked to be missing leg, but umpire Tiffin's index finger decided otherwise.

At 86 for 4, the last specialist pair of VVS Laxman and Sourav Ganguly battled on, looking to whittle away at the deficit and get as close to the West Indian first innings total of 422.

Laxman, batting fluently as he has through the series, played some audacious drives while Ganguly at the other end kept it simple, swaying away to anything pitched short and mercilessly dispatching the rank bad balls to the fence. The pair added 53 runs at a brisk rate in the last session at almost 3.5 runs per over. The last session of play fetched 107 runs in 35 overs for the Indians.

VVS Laxman, unbeaten on 27, and Sourav Ganguly, unbeaten on 22, saw play through to stumps with the Indian total of 141-4.

Day 1

Scoreboard