Captain Darren Sammy shrugged off an ordinary start to the match to claim four for 52 while opener Adrian Barath hit a stroke-filled 38 to give the West Indies some hope of pulling off a surprise victory on today’s fourth day of the fourth Test against India at Sabina Park.
Set 326 for victory after they had dismissed India for second-innings 252, the West Indies reached 131 for three at close of play still needing another 195 runs to win with seven wickets in hand.
Sammy who, prior to yesterday’s bowling performance, finished with 0-42 and made one in the West Indies’ first innings, and dropped century maker Rahul Dravid on six in the Indians’ second turn at bat, bowled a steady length and line to force some of India’s batsmen into rash strokes. Then the West Indies, thanks to a near run-a-ball innings from Barath, 27 from fellow opener Lendl Simmons, 30 not out from Darren Bravo, and 24 not out from Shivnarine Chanderpaul, set the stage for a memorable fourth day.
“It feels good to end with the figures that I did as after a not so good first innings, I was able to put the ball in the right areas in the second and it paid off,” said Sammy.
“It was also good to see Bishoo, who took three wickets in the first innings continuing his form, as we needed to restrict them so that they did not post a very big score.
“We were able to restrict them to 252 which while not ideal is reasonable. It’s just for us now to continue from this fairly decent start that we have, and try to win the match.”
A day of two halves, it began with India on 91-3 and looking to build a huge total that would put the West Indies out of the game.
partnership
However, thanks to Sammy and Bishoo, they were constantly kept in check, and were unable to establish any solid partnership until the ninth wicket when Dravid, who made 112, was accompanied by leg-spinner Amit Mishra, who chipped in with 28.
Knowing what was necessary to take a surprise 1-0 lead in the three-match series, Barath and Simmons, then came out with all guns blazing with a barrage of sixes and fours around the ground, which had the small crowd on its, and together the pair brought up the West Indies 50 in 9.1 overs.
The entertaining start, however, was eventually cut short when debutant fast bowler Praveen Kumar got the better of Barath with the score on 62.
This brought Ramnaresh Sarwan to the crease but as soon he came he departed as playing loosely outside his off stump he was caught by Virat Kholi in the slips without scoring off the bowling of pacer Inshant Sharma with the score on 63.
Simmons was then joined by Bravo and together they added 17 for the third wicket before Simmons, who playing down the wrong line was bowled by pumped up Sharma with the score on 80.
That, however, was the last scare that West Indies would suffer, as thanks to Chanderpaul who joined Bravo, the team was able to see the day through without further mishap.
Play resumes today at 10 a.m.
SCOREBOARD
India 1st Innings 246
West Indies 1st Innings 173
India 2nd innings
(overnight 91 for three)
R. Dravid c Sarwan B Bishoo 112V. Kohli c wk Baugh b Edwards 15S. Raina c Sammy b Bishoo 27M.S. Dhoni c Edwards b Bishoo 16Harbhajan Singh lbw b Sammy 5P. Kumar b Sammy 0A. Mishra c Bravo b Sammy 28I. Sharma not out 5Extras (b8, lb2, nb9) 19Total (all out; 94.5 overs) 252
Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Vijay), 2-56 (Mukund), 3-57 (Laxman), 4-100 (Kohli), 5-148 (Raina), 6-166 (Dhoni), 7-183 (Harbhajan Singh), 8-183 (Kumar), 9-239 (Mishra), 10-252 (Dravid)
Bowling: Edwards 20-1-70-1, Rampaul 22-3-49-1, Sammy 27-11-52-4, Bishoo 24.5-2-65-4, Nash 1-0-6-0
West Indies 2nd innings
A. Barath c Raina b Kumar 38L. Simmons b Sharma 27R. Sarwan c Kohli b Sharma 0D. Bravo not out 30S. Chanderpaul not out 24Extras (lb12) 12Total (3 wkts; 33 overs) 131
To bat: B Nash, +C Baugh,D Sammy, R Rampaul, D Bishoo, F Edwards.
Fall of wickets: 1-62 (Barath), 2-63 (Sarwan), 3-80 (Simmons)
Bowling: Kumar 9-1-27-1, Sharma 8-2-41-2, Mishra 4-0-23-0, Harbhajan Singh 6-1-19-0, Raina 6-1-9-0.
Toss: India.
