Chris Gayle and Shivnarine kept the Indians at bay as West Indies emerged from a spot of bother and looked to draw the second cricket Test.
ST. JOHN'S/ANTIGUA: The West Indies had to rely on their last pair of Fidel Edwards and Corey Collymore to force a dramatic draw in the first Test against India on Tuesday. The Windies, set 392 to win, finished on 298 for nine.
A defiant knock of 52 from 55 balls from tailender Dave Mohammed helped the West Indies to carry the fight till the end.
The match seemed headed for a stalemate when the home side reached tea on 158 for three. But India applied the pressure relentlessly to take six wickets in the final session.
Anil Kumble, with 4 for 107 in the second innings, took the ninth West Indies wicket of Dave Mohammed with 3.1 overs left, and Edwards and Collymore survived the ace spinner and two overs from fast bowler Shanthakumaran Sreesanth.
Earlier, Chris Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul kept the Indians at bay as West Indies emerged from a spot of bother and looked to draw the match.
Chasing a daunting target of 392, the hosts slipped to 72 for three before the two left-handers shored up their second innings at the Antigua Recreation Ground.
At tea on the fifth and final day, the Caribbeans had moved to the relative safety of 158 for three with Gayle batting on 59 and Chanderpual on 47.
The West Indies need another 234 to win but captain Brian Lara would settle for seeing through the minimum 39 overs remaining without further loss of wickets.
Gayle and Chanderpaul have added 86 runs so far for the unfinished fourth wicket as they led the West Indian recovery.
Earlier, the home team made a smooth start through a 67-run opening stand between Daren Ganga and Gayle before losing three wickets in less than five overs in the first session.
Anil Kumble gave the first breakthrough when he had Daren Ganga (36) caught brilliantly by Yuvraj Singh at forward shortleg.
A run later, Ramnaresh Sarwan (one) played a reckless drive against Sreesanth (2-42) to spoon a simple catch to Kumble in the slip cordon.
Sreesanth then got one straighten up to rap Lara plumb in front for zero.
West Indies began solidly, negating the accurate opening spells of Sreesanth and Munaf Patel.
Gayle played a most uncharacteristic innings in compiling a rather subdued 59 from over four hours of batting though there were signs of belligerence nevertheless.
Gayle punished Anil Kumble for a huge six in the over before tea after the leg-spinner resorted to bowling looping leg breaks in order to force Gayle out of his shell.
Chanderpaul had a couple of close shaves around his off-stump but played several pleasing off-drives in the cover region.
Gayle has so far faced 175 deliveries and hit eight fours and two sixes.
Chanderpaul, on the other hand, has batted with more enterprise, facng 83 balls for his 47 runs and smashing nine fours.
Scoreboard:
India (1st innings) 241
West Indies (1st innings)
C Gayle c Dravid b Kumble 72
D Ganga lbw b Patel 9
R Sarwan lbw b Kumble 58
B Lara c Y Singh b Patel 18
S Chanderpaul c Dhoni b Sehwag 24
D Bravo st Dhoni b Sehwag 68
D Ramdin c Dhoni b Patel 26
I Bradshaw c Y Singh b V Singh 33
D Mohammed 19
F Edwards c Dhoni b V Singh 4
C Collymore lbw b Kumble 0
Extras (b-2 lb-14 nb-22 w-2) 40
Total (all out, 98.3 overs) 371
Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-137, 3-159, 4-182, 5-255, 6-282, 7-331, 8-359, 9-370, 10-371.
Bowling: S Sreesanth 16-1-96-0 (nb-1 w-2), M Patel 28-7-80-3 (nb-6), V Singh 15-1-61-2 (nb-4), A Kumble 27.3-6-86-3 (nb-5), V Sehwag 12-2-32-2 (nb-2).
India (2nd innings)
Wasim Jaffer b Bradshaw 212
Virender Sehwag c Gayle b Collymore 41
VVS Laxman c Bradshaw b Mohammed 31
Rahul Dravid c Bradshaw b Mohammed 62
Yuvraj Singh c Chanderpaul b Gayle 39
M Kaif not out 46
M Dhoni c Ganga b Mohammed 69
Extras (6lb, 6w, 9nb) 21
Total (for four wickets, 150.5 overs) 521
Fall of wicket: 1-72, 2-147, 3-350, 4-375, 5-419, 6-521
Bowling: Fidel Edwards 5.4 2 16 0, Corey Collymore 23 8 50 1, Ian Bradshaw 40 9 108 1, Dwayne Bravo 26.2 4 98 0 (1nb, 1w), Dave Mohammed 29.5 3 162 3, Chris Gayle 22 5 66 1, Ramnaresh Sarwan 4 0 15 0
West Indies (2nd innings)
C Gayle lbw b Kumble 69
D Ganga c Yuvraj b Kumble 36
R Sarwan c Kumble b Sreesanth 1
B Lara lbw b Sreesanth 0
S Chanderpaul lbw b Kumble 62
D Bravo c Dhoni b Sehwag 28
D Ramdin c Dravid b Sehwag 8
I Bradshaw c Dhoni b Patel 10
D Mohammed b Kumble 52
F Edwards not out 1
C Collymore not out 1
Extras (b5, lb8, nb17) 30
Total (for 9 wkts, 95 overs) 298
Fall of wickets: 1-67, 2-68, 3-72, 4-171, 5-202, 6-220, 7-226, 8-277, 9-297
Bowling: Munaf Patel 20-4-55-1, S Sreesanth 19-10-49-2, Anil Kumble 34-9-107-4, VRV Singh 11-4-35-0, Virender Sehwag 11-3-39-2.
Umpires: S. Taufel, Asad Rauf.
TV Replays: B Doctrove
Reserve: C Mack
Match Referee: J Crowe
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