THANKS to some well-directed fast bowling from Ravi Rampaul and Fidel Edwards who took three wickets each, backed by leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo, the West Indies ended the first day of the second Digicel Test match against India in a commanding position at the Kensington Oval here in Barbados yesterday.
Rampaul had 3 for38, Edwards 3 for 52 and Bishoo 3 for 46 as the Indians were dismissed for 201 off 68 overs, 79 minutes after tea to which the West Indies, who were shakily placed on 5 for 2, reached 30 for 3 at the close of play with Ramnaresh Sarwan on 10 and Bishoo yet to score.
As was evident in the Indians’ innings, where the new ball created problems for the batsmen, the West Indies in reply lost both openers in Adrian Barath (3) who was caught by Virat Kohli at gully off Ishant Sharma and Lendl Simmons (2), dismissed by Praveen Kumar.
Then Bravo cut a short delivery from Abhimanyu Mithun wide of point for his first bouindary but was adjudged caught at the wicket by Dhoni off the penultimate ball of the day from Mithun for 9.
Earlier in the day, the visitors, who lead the three Test series one-nil following their 63-run victory in the first Test last week in Jamaica, were asked to take first strike by the Windies and were rocked back by Rampaul’s short but well-directed bowling to be shakily placed on 38 for four inside the first hour’s play.
Abhinav Mukund (1) was the first to go, caught by Marlon Samuels at gully off Rampaul and it should have been 2 for 2, if Shivnarine Chanderpaul had struck the stumps at the non-striker’s end, with Murali Vijay caught backing up too far.
That miss did not trouble the home team who made one change to their final 11, bringing in Samuels for vice-captain Brendan Nash, as Dravid was caught at the wicket by Carlton Baugh off Daren Sammy to leave India on 8 for 2.
It became 38 for 4 when Rampaul removed Vijay (11) and Kohli (0) in one over and at lunch, India were 44 for four with VVS Laxman on 23, having struck both Sammy and Fidel Edwards for four and Suresh Raina yet to score.
The hundreds of spectators gathered at the venue, including students from the Barbados Cricket Association’s (BCA) Centre of Excellence thought the home team would have wrapped up the visitors’ innings after lunch, but Laxman and Raina had other ideas as they saw their team to 153 for 4 at tea.
Raina opened his innings with a pull through midwicket off Rampaul, while Laxman guided the same bowler through point for another four, as they sought to rebuild the innings following the Trinidad and Tobago fast bowler’s opening spell with figures of 8-5-4-3 at the lunch interval.
A sweetly timed extra cover drive by Raina off Sammy not only highlighted the confidence displayed by the left-handed batsman, but also signalled the absence of the early morning moisture that was exploited by Rampaul, with little or no assistance from Edwards.
Laxman got his 50th Test half-century from 75 balls and 124 minutes batting, hitting eight fours while Raina got his fourth from 90 deliveries and 110 minutes batting, hitting seven fours.  At tea, India were 147 for 4 with Laxman on 69 and Raina 53, the two adding 109 for the fifth wicket at that point.
The West Indies got rapid success after tea, removing Raina who was adjudged caught at forward short leg off Bishoo, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (2) and Harbhajan Singh (5), to leave India on 183 for 7, with Laxman offering dogged resistance on 85.
Raina faced 105 balls and struck seven fours while batting for 137 minutes for his 53, but most importantly, he added 117 valuable runs with Laxman, that helped revived his side’s innings at a time when they looked as though they would not make 150, before he was caught by Barath.
Praveen Kumar joined Laxman with a fired-up Edwards, who removed both Dhoni and Laxman with well-directed short deliveries aimed at the body, and stood at the other end to witness his more illustrious partner score his 8 000th Test run from an inside edge to fine leg.
A brilliant catch by Barath at backward point was the downfall of Laxman, who tried to cut a ball from Bishoo when on 85, made off 146 balls with 12 fours while he batted for 251 minutes, leaving India on 187 for 8 in the 68th over.
Edwards made up for his erratic early morning spell, when he disturbed the stumps of Mithun (0), before Kumar pulled a short delivery from Edwards through wide mid on for four to raise the 200 for India in the 67th over of their innings.
It was all over for India when Kumar was stumped by Baugh off Bishoo for 12 (2×4), as India, who must have been disappointed with their batting approach after tea, were bowled out for 201, losing their final six wickets for the addition of 54 runs from 15 overs.
Rampaul, Bishoo and Edwards finished with three wickets for 38, 46 and 56 runs respectively, as the home team displayed a spirited fight in the post-ea session on a bouncy track.