Close West Indies 270 for 4 (Hooper 108*, Chanderpaul 57*, Sarwan 53, Srinath 3-55)
scorecard

Fifteen years into his Test career, Carl Hooper made a Test century in his home ground for the first time, rescuing West Indies from a perilous position of 44 for 3 to take them to 270 for 4 at close of play on the first day of the first Test at the Bourda Oval in Georgetown, Guyana. He put together 113-run partnerships with Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul – the second one unbeaten. His innings of 108 not out had lots of character and some flair; for much of his career, the converse had been true of Hooper.

His home-crowd wasn't exactly in the throes of ecstacy when he walked out to bat. Javagal Srinath had just picked up three early wickets, including the prized one of Brian Lara, and a collapse seemed imminent. To add panic to dismay, Hooper inside-edged the first ball he played, from Srinath, but Deep Dasgupta could not hold on to the resultant chance - to nobody's surprise.

At the other end was a man who rivals Hooper for composure: Ramnaresh Sarwan. The two of them began the rescue operation in contrasting styles. Sarwan played with great patience and assurance, unrattled by the situation that confronted him. Hooper, on the other hand, was scratchy, especially against Anil Kumble, who had two confident lbw appeals against Hooper turned down. He also escaped with an outside-edge off a Sanjay Bangar outswinger, which streaked through the gap between Rahul Dravid at first slip and VVS Laxman at second. It was Laxman's catch, but he was late to commit. The error in judgment would cost India.

Hooper and Sarwan had added 42 till lunch, which West Indies took with the score on 86 for 3. Srinath then began a testing spell after lunch, and bowled five overs for three runs while, at the other end, Bangar bowled a metronomic wicket-to-wicket line, keeping the ball in the corridor while swinging it both ways. His control was impeccable; at his pace, it had to be.

It was baffling how late Sarandeep Singh was brought in to bowl – in the 47th over of the day. He settled into a line and length immediately and bowled a maiden, but that was mainly because Sarwan, on reaching 49, in the 45th over, suddenly got a case of the batting yips.

As his fifty approached, so did an attack of nerves. It was India's best chance of getting a wicket, and Kumble, sensing the moment, bowled magnificently, getting a googly to rebound off Sarwan's pads to forward-short-leg and appealing for both lbw and caught. He got neither.

The 49th over saw the end to that drama, as Sarwan's stay on 49 ended just as the over did. Sarandeep bowled on his pads and Sarwan worked it away to leg to get to his fifty. Phew.

Then, in the last over after tea, Hooper reached his fifty in ominous style, with an emphatic hook off Srinath. Srinath responded with a long-hop outside off, Hooper murderously dispatched it to the midwicket boundary.

Shortly after tea, Sarwan threw it away, charging down the pitch to Sarandeep, not reaching the pitch of the ball, and driving uppishly against the spin. Zaheer Khan at mid-off held on to a regulation catch (157 for 4). Sarwan had made 53.

No worries for Hooper though, as one Guyanese teammate replaced another. Chanderpaul, man of the series the last time India toured West Indies, sensed that the Indians were tired after a long day on the field, and promptly counter-attacked. Sarandeep suffered the most.

Sarandeep's first seven overs had cost him 10 runs; his eighth went for 15 and his ninth for 9, as West Indies took 33 runs in 3 overs (Kumble bowled the one in between). Chanderpaul stepped out regularly against the spinners, was severe on anything remotely short and put the pressure back on India. He stuttered briefly on 49 – as Sarwan had earlier in the day – and suffered 16 balls on that score before Sarandeep, again, allowed him to get past 50.

Hooper, meanwhile, was in his element in this session. There was artistry in his sweeps, grandour in his pulls and grace in his backfoot cover-drives. And despair on Ganguly's face. Desperate to stop West Indies from running away with the match, he brought on Bangar and gave him, first, a 7-2 field, and then, 8-1: 8 fielders on the off side and the lone gun on the on side.

To his credit, Bangar's control was masterful. He did not overcompensate by bowling too wide outside off, and kept it on a length in the corridor. As the day wound down, Hooper and Chanderpaul were content to play out the overs.

Earlier, after West Indies won the toss and opted to bat, India began the match untidily, as Srinath and Zaheer both began with very wayward overs, struggling to find their rhythm. While Zaheer continued in that vein all day – he bowled a total of 11 no-balls – Srinath grew in stature as the day went on. He dismissed Chris Gayle (12) and Stuart Williams (13) after both had started aggressively, hitting three boundaries each, but the wicket that really mattered was that of Brian Lara.

As if inspired by the task ahead of him, he kept Lara scoreless for 10 balls, testing him with the snorter, the quicker one and many that lurked in the corridor. An epic battle seemed in the offing when Lara played at one pitched on middle-and-off and moving just a touch away, and Umpire Daryl Harper upheld the half-hearted appeal that ensued (44 for 3). Replays showed daylight between bat and ball, and sound of bat hitting pad.

One Caribbean master walked back to the pavilion; another emerged.

Teams
West Indies 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Stuart Williams, 3 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 4 Brian Lara, 5 Carl Hooper (capt), 6 Ramnaresh Sarwan, 7 Junior Murray (wk), 8 Mahendra Nagamootoo, 9 Cameron Cuffy, 10 Mervyn Dillon, 11 Adam Sanford

India 1 Shiv Sunder Das, 2 Deep Dasgupta (wk), 3 Sourav Ganguly (capt), 4 Sachin Tendulkar, 5 Rahul Dravid, 6 VVS Laxman, 7 Sanjay Bangar, 8 Anil Kumble, 9 Javagal Srinath, 10 Zaheer Khan, 11 Sarandeep Singh.

Amit Varma is assistant editor of Wisden.com India.

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