Carl Hooper and Shivnarine Chanderpaul shut India completely out of this Test by batting through the extended third session of play today. Going into the tea break, West Indies were 97 runs in the lead, but India still had a chance of clawing back. Hooper and Chanderpaul dashed those hopes. Hooper was circumspect for much of his innings, and was especially scratchy before tea, when he made 11 runs off 58 balls. However, he grew in confidence, and was commanding against Harbhajan Singh in the final session. Prior to the tea break, he had managed a solitary run from 19 balls against Harbhajan – a strike rate of 5%. After tea, he scored at more than a run a ball – 16 off 15. Thirteen of those runs came from sweeps, as he threw Harbhajan off his line and length early in his final spell. Against the seamers though, he struggled to find the same fluency, scoring 43 runs from 98 balls in the final session.

Chanderpaul's scoring rate after tea was more even: 27 runs off 59 balls against the seamers and 21 off 55 against spin. Harbhajan's negative line didn't allow Chanderpaul too many scoring opportunities: 55% of his deliveries were on or outside leg, reminiscent of the tactics Ashley Giles had used to rein in Sachin Tendulkar in the Bangalore Test last year. Unlike on that occasion, umpire Asoka de Silva stepped in and prevented things from going too far.

S Rajesh is sub editor of Wisden.com India.

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