Carl Hooper's unbeaten 108 was a masterful exhibition of Test match batting. The Indian bowlers didn't bowl all that badly to him. Out of the 226 deliveries he faced, 93% were on middle stump or further off side, and 80% were on a good length. Hooper was patient enough to defend the good balls, and take full toll of the loose ones. He was especially prolific off full-length balls – 15 such deliveries went for 26 runs. The on side was the preferred area of run-scoring for Hooper – 63 of his runs came on that side of the wicket. Surprisingly, Zaheer Khan was the bowler who was most successful in keeping him quiet – Hooper managed a mere six runs from 35 balls from him. This, despite the fact that 57% of his deliveries to Hooper were on middle stump or further leg side.

Though equally at ease when playing forward or back, Hooper scored more quickly off the back foot (41 runs off 49 balls) than off the front foot (66 from 169). Javagal Srinath, India's most incisive bowler today, felt Hooper's back-foot punch the most – in 14 deliveries, Hooper hit him for 21 runs, a strike-rate of 150%.

Among India's bowlers, Sanjay Bangar stood out for his excellent control over his line – 85% of his deliveries (82 out of 96) were in the corridor around off stump. His excellent direction allowed Sourav Ganguly to place an 8-1 field and restrict the marauding West Indian batsmen. Zaheer would do well to take a leaf out of Bangar's disciplined bowling performance.

S Rajesh is sub editor of Wisden.com India

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