India had long been looking for an accomplished opening partner for SS Das, and if Wasim Jaffer's innings was any indication, the search might well be over. Jaffer made 51 fluent runs, the highlight of which was undoubtedly his exquisite back-foot driving through the off side. A whopping 44 runs came on that side of the wicket – that's 86% of his total score – out of which 30 came in the arc between point and mid-off. He clearly favoured the back foot, scoring 30 runs from 38 balls. And his in-control ratio was much higher when he played back – 87%, compared to 75% when he was drawn forward.

If the West Indian bowlers noticed Jaffer's back-foot mastery, they certainly didn't show it, for 60% of the balls they bowled to him were short. Pedro Collins was the worst culprit. Out of 25 balls he bowled to Jaffer, only 3 were on a good length, while 16 were short. Not surprisingly, Jaffer creamed him for 28 runs.

Cameron Cuffy and Mervyn Dillon were again the outstanding bowlers for West Indies. Both bowled 92% of their deliveries on or outside off, and hardly gave the batsmen anything to score off. Cuffy's control over length was phenomenal too – he sent down just two half-volleys in 18 overs. The rest of his deliveries were on a good length or just short. His figures: 18-15-3-0.

S Rajesh is sub editor of Wisden.com India.

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