Day 1 Close Indians 253 for 7 (Mongia 87, Laxman 85, Black 2-35) v West Indies A

VVS Laxman and Dinesh Mongia saved India the blushes on the first day of their three-day tour match against West Indies A. Laxman made 85 and Mongia 87 as India reached 253 for 7 after winning the toss and electing to bat.

India chose to rest Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Virender Sehwag, giving opportunities to all four of the players who had joined the squad for the Test series. None of them capitalised on the opportunity, though.

Wasim Jaffer and SS Das are expected to open in the Tests, but neither impressed in their first match on tour. Jaffer laboured for an hour in making 5, before Marlon Black ended his misery, having him caught behind. Only 10 came off the first 13 overs as the West Indian seamers kept a tidy line and length on a slowish surface.

The advent of Laxman brought some much-needed urgency to the Indian innings. Das was trapped in front by Ryan Hinds for 29, but Mongia joined Laxman in what was the brightest phase of the day's play.

Mongia had a poor NatWest Series, but started off with two spanking fours early in his innings, while Laxman batted with customary fluency, continuing his good form against West Indies. The pair added 86 for the third wicket, and both looked good for hundreds, but neither got there.

Laxman was deceived by part-time offspinner Chris Gayle and skied a catch to Lendl Simmons in the deep (155 for 3). His 85 came off 132 balls and included nine sparkling fours. After Sanjay Bangar departed for a 14-ball duck, Mongia added 71 with Ajay Ratra. Hinds did the trick again for West Indies, when Mongia tried to play across the line and was bowled (232 for 5).

The two Indian wicketkeepers were then dismissed in quick succession. Ratra was trapped in front by Reon King for 15 (235 for 6), while Parthiv Patel hit three fours in making 12 from 18 balls before being bowled by Black in the last over of the day. Mohammad Kaif was unbeaten on 7, and will need support from the last three (Ajit Agarkar, Harbhajan Singh and Tinu Yohannan) if India are to get up to a decent total.

Teams
India 1 SS Das, 2 Wasim Jaffer, 3 VVS Laxman (capt), 4 Dinesh Mongia, 5 Sanjay Bangar, 6 Ajay Ratra (wk), 7 Mohammad Kaif, 8 Parthiv Patel, 9 Ajit Agarkar, 10 Harbhajan Singh, 11 Tinu Yohannan.

West Indies A 1 Daren Ganga (capt), 2 Devon Smith Chris Gayle, 3 Donovan Pagon, 4 Lendl Simmons, 5 Ryan Hinds, 6 Dwayne Bravo, 7 Chris Gayle, 8 Keith Hibbert (wk), 9 Jermaine Lawson, 10 Marlon Black, 11 Reon King.

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