Laxman, Dravid rally India

Day Three

VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid rallied India to 237-4 after the dismissal of Sachin Tendulkar for 79, on the third day of the first Test against the West Indies at the Bourda Oval in Georgetown, after the home team had amassed 501 runs in the first innings.

With half-centurion Dravid set at the crease along with Laxman, approaching his half-century, India seem set to avoid the follow-on which threatened when Tendulkar departed at 144.

Morning session:

India picked up the three West Indian wickets left in 24 minutes on the third morning of the first Test at the Bourda Oval, with Sanjay Bangar striking with the third ball of the day, trapping overnight batsman Mervyn Dillon plumb in front with an inswinger.

A run short of the 500-run mark, Anil Kumble had Sanford LBW off a fullish delivery. Then Cameron Cuffy failed to beat a Tendulkar throw and the hosts’ innings finally concluded at 501.

On the face of it, Carl Hooper’s decision to bat on the third morning of the match seemed defensive and pointless, but a closer look at his decision made complete sense. Achieving the 500-run mark would put the Indians, with a reputation of being vulnerable tourists, under psychological pressure for the rest of the series besides ensuring that the Test would not be lost at any costs. The West Indians, as Michael holding had pointed out on the eve of the tour, have lost matches even after scoring 300-400 runs in the first innings.

India innings:

India’s compromise formula fell flat on its face when Deep Dasgupta after keeping wickets for 1005 balls over two days was caught in front by Cameron Cuffy. Even as the dish got sour for Deep behind the stumps, he was served some more of it in front, registering a fifth-ball duck, which could force the selectors to understand the meaning of the word ‘specialist’ in Test cricket.

Skipper Sourav Ganguly, who promoted himself up the order to number three, walked in and realised that boredom was a better prospect than facing Mervyn Dillon and Cameron Cuffy, both bowling at 138-140 kmph.

With Cuffy testing him severely outside the off-stump area, Dillon bowled an over, which would rate thus far as the pick of the Test.

Touching speeds of 140 with ease, Dillon struck Ganguly on the back of his arm with the first ball, as the India skipper took his eyes off the ball. The ball seemed to have ruffled Ganguly, who has a reputation of being vulnerable to the rising delivery, though he did not rub the spot of contact in an act of defiance.

Poking at the second delivery, which was angled across, the left-hander discreetly left the third one outside off. Intimidated by the pace and bounce, Dillon generated from the wicket, Ganguly played the hook shot and took his eyes off the ball; Nagamootoo, at square leg, swallowed a dolly. The wisdom in pushing himself up the order seemed ephemeral and foolhardy.

If you cannot move an obstruction from your path, common sense suggests that you just walk around it and move on. If Ganguly lacks the technique for the short-stuff, it makes more sense for him to edit the hook shot from his copybook and force a change in line from the bowler.

The wicket, which for the first two days was labeled a dead strip, suddenly seemed to have indicated signs of revival, having darkened in colour as a result of sweating from the overnight covers.

The West Indian bowling, which was deemed to be impotent and the weakest link of the Calypso outfit, might just be the surprise package of the Test series. Cameron Cuffy and Mervyn Dillon have indicated their intentions with the firepower they have in store for the visitors over the next month-and-a-half.

With the Indian skipper back in the hut with the score at 21-2, Sachin Tendulkar yet again found himself at the crease earlier than he would have wished. Tendulkar, after sedately getting the feel of the wicket, cut Cuffy, who strayed wide outside off, for four to get the scoreboard moving.

Using the bottom hand to good effect, Tendulkar then fetched a ball from outside the off-stump past mid-on for four.

At 30-2, the hyped pace bowler Adam Sanford was introduced in the 13th over and he began his first over in Test cricket with a maiden.

The 26-year-old Carib Indian generated deceptive express pace from an easy short run-up to surprise the Indian pair at the crease. Bowling consistently at 135kmph, the youngster seemed a sure nominee for the injury list with the amount of pressure he plunks on his shoulder. Sanford could do well spending time with the former great Michael Holding about extending his run-up.

Leg-spinner Nagamootoo bowled the last over before lunch and was greeted at the wicket by Tendulkar, playing an audacious late-cut the slips for four.

India went into lunch at 41-2 with Das (6) looking determined and Tendulkar (14) biding his time before tearing into the West Indian pace attack.

Post Lunch session

Tendulkar wasted no time in stamping his authority on the session with a classic on-drive as the wicket eased up after assisting the bowlers in the morning session, when five wickets fell.

Das and Tendulkar got the 50-run partnership for the third wicket, looking to consolidate on the start, before Adam Sanford claimed his maiden Test wicket when he had Das, playing away from his body and dragging the ball onto his stumps.

Das (33) has time and again been dismissed by dragging the ball onto the stumps, while playing away from his body.

Tendulkar celebrated his first half-century of the series with successive boundaries off Dillon; first flicking him to the mid-wicket fence and then following it up with a silken cover drive.

Rahul Dravid, dislodged from his number three spot, came into play and unlike Das, who kept the scoreboard moving by rotating the strike, failed to keep the score ticking.

The problem with Dravid is that he thinks existence at the crease is the be all and end all of Test cricket. It is actually counter-productive and today was a classic example.

When he came in, Tendulkar was coasting along, hitting the ball around at will. Once Dravid came in and started scratching around -- holding one end up -- even Tendulkar's flow was halted.

Simultaneously, it allowed the bowlers, who were being battered around by Tendulkar, to get a second wind and settle down again. And once that happened, they had the advantage.

If Chanderpaul had played like Dravid -- Hooper would never have been able to dominate as he did. What Dravid keeps forgetting is that during the settling-in process, it is not about letting every ball go to the keeper or pushing them around in front of him, but of working them away for singles at the least, so the strike rotates and the in-form batsman at the other end does not lose his momentum.

An example to illustrate Dravid’s play: In the 51st over of the Indian innings, he prods around for five balls to a bowler like Hooper (the fact that you allow him to bowl at this point means the main bowlers are resting, the pressure is off the bowling side, and that is bad enough for starters) -- and then he takes a single off the last ball and Tendulkar remains a spectator for yet another over.

Tendulkar, looking increasingly uncomfortable against Guyanese leggie Nagamootoo, survived when an edge of his willow bounced off keeper Murray’s pads to first slip, who failed to snap the sharp chance.

Tragedy struck the Indian innings when Tendulkar, trying to pull a ball which kept low from Nagamootoo through mid-wicket, was trapped plumb in front for 79.

India went in to tea at 144-4, in danger of avoiding the follow-on. Requiring a further 158 runs to avoid the mercy-rule, Dravid and new batsman VVS Laxman had their task cut out for them.

Post-tea session

With the slip cordon crowding around Dravid and Laxman after the fall of Tendulkar, it was clear that Hooper had decided to attack and decimate the Indian batsmen. A resurgent Dravid changed gears after having laboriously preserved his wicket in the post-lunch session, square driving Dillon for a four. Rocking onto the back foot, Dravid then cut Nagamootoo through backward point.

Laxman, under pressure to perform with in-form Dinesh Mongia pushing him for a place in the playing eleven, started warily unlike his customary habit of unfolding his strokes from ball one. But the stylish Hyderabadi couldn’t hold back for long, soaking his strokeplay into Adam Sanford, driving and flicking him with immaculate control for successive boundaries.

A straight drive off Nagamootoo by Laxman got India to the 200-run mark and fears of the follow-on still close to a 100 runs away seemed to have been averted.

With close to 14 overs remaining for the end of day’s play, the West Indies took the new ball and Dillon started proceedings looking to break the 80-run partnership between Laxman and Dravid.

The ball, pitched a fraction short by Dillon, had Laxman driving it through the covers for a four. Dravid got to his fifty, gliding the ball down to the third-man fence, then flicked the ball off his toes to the mid-wicket fence when Dillon drifted down leg.

With the light fading, the umpires offered the light to the batsmen and with 10 overs yet to be bowled play was called off.

Laxman (46) and Dravid (57) added 93 runs for the fifth-wicket as India ended the third day at 237-4 – 65 runs short to avoid the follow-on.

The wily Nagamootoo was the outstanding performer of the day for the hosts with the ball, extracting appreciable turn from the wicket and worrying all the Indian batsmen. That Tendulkar managed to score just nine runs off the 48 deliveries he faced of the Guyanese leggie was ample proof of his class. The pace bowlers -- Dillon, Cuffy and newcomer Sanford bowled well initially but failed to capitalise after Tendulkar’s departure in seizing the initiative.

With the touch that Laxman was in, skipper Ganguly’s whimsical decision to go in at number three was truly detrimental to the Indian cause. It is one thing to take on a weak Zimbabwean attack on the docile tracks of India and quite another to face serious pace overseas.

It’s only sensible that Ganguly ruptures his self-denial – that he does not have a problem with the rising delivery – and goes back to the nets. When Lara suffered a loss in form he went right back to the nets and worked hard at his game instead of wasting precious time reacting to broadsheet opinions.

The skipper’s statement on the eve of the Test series that he would bat at number three instead of number five out of boredom – even though it was said with a touch of humour – smacked of arrogance and individualism.

Being the only member of the Indian team to have failed the fitness test, one hopes Ganguly doesn’t fail any more tests.

Day 1 report
Day 2 report

Detailed scorecard