Gayle, Ganga guide Windies

 

 

ST KITTS: Contrasting half centuries from
Chris Gayle and Daren Ganga gave the West Indies a solid start on a truncated opening day of the third cricket Test against India here on Thursday.
    
Prolific opening batsman Gayle cracked an enterprising 83, while his partner Ganga made a sedate 64 not out to see the hosts reach a strong 207 for one at the Warner Park stadium.

 

Ramnaresh Sarwan was unbeaten on 34 at the other end.

 

The Indians succeeded somewhat in curtailing the West Indian run flow that came at exhilarating pace till Gayle was at the crease.

 

Gayle struck three sixes off Harbhajan Singh and two off Sreesanth besides eight boundaries in his 127-ball knock to give his side a flying start after captain Brian Lara elected to bat on a benign track.

 

The cavalier batsman's fireworks came after the start was delayed by 2 1/2 hours due to a wet outfield caused by overnight rain.

 

When play finally got underway, the tall left-hander latched on to Sreesanth, first smashing him down the line for a four and then hoisting him over long on for a massive six.

 

There was a brief interruption with only eight overs into the West Indian innings when passing clouds forced the covers on.

 

On resumption, Gayle continued from where he left.

 

He picked Sreesanth once again for some rough treatment, lofting him in the straight for another six.

 

The Jamaican then turned his attention to off-spinner Harbhajan Singh who was playing his first Test of the tour.

 

Gayle clubbed the Turbanator over long on and long off for two sixes in one over.

 

He reached his 25th Test fifty with a straight driven four off Harbhajan and followed it up with a flat six to long-on off the bowler's next over.

 

Ganga concentrated on playing the support role.

 

The right-hander has so far played 187 balls and struck six fours.

 

Sarwan started off well with two boundaries off the fast bowlers before Kumble placed doubts in his mind with his variations.

 

By stumps, he has batted 79 deliveries and hit eight boundaries.

 

Anil Kumble (21-5-44-0) and Munaf Patel (14-2-53-1) were able to force the batsmen on the backfoot but runs continued to bleed from the other end.

 

Harbhajan Singh, who sat out of the first two Tests, returned 12-1-57-0 while Sreesanth made amends for his opening spell to post figures of 14-5-30-0.

 

Gayle's dismissal came against the run of play when he offered no shot to an inswinging delivery from Munaf Patel from around the stumps.

 

The scoring rate slowed down considerably after Gayle's departure.

 

With Ganga under pressure to prove himself on recall and Ramnaresh Sarwan keen to get back his form, runs came in a trickle.

 

The 50 runs for the partnership consumed 129 balls and that of Ganga's innings 142 deliveries.

 

Earlier, India made two changes in the line-up with Harbhajan Singh and Sreesanth coming in place of VRV Singh and Irfan Pathan.

 

West Indies made one change from the team in the second Test with Marlon Samuels replacing Ian Bradshaw.

Scoreboard
West Indies, 1st innings
Chris Gayle b Patel 83
Daren Ganga not out 64
Ramnaresh Sarwan not out 44
Extras: (7lb, 9nb) 16
Total: (for one wicket) 207
Overs: 64.
Fall of wicket: 1 143.
To bat: Brian Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Dwayne Bravo, Marlon Samuels, Denesh Ramdin, Jerome Taylor, Corey Collymore, Pedro Collins.
Bowling: Munaf Patel 14 2 53 1 (7nb), Shantha Sreesanth 14 5 30 0 (1nb), Anil Kumble 21 5 54 0 (1nb), Harbhajan Singh 12 1 57 0, Virender Sehwag 3 0 6 0.

 

India: Virender Sehwag, Wasim Jaffer, VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Mahendra Dhoni, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, Munaf Patel.
Umpires: Rudi Koertzen and Brian Jerling, South Africa.
Match referee: Jeff Crowe, New Zealand.