Close India 462 for 6 (Laxman 124*, Ratra 93*)
scorecard

For two-and-a-half sessions of the second day of the fourth Test at St. John's, Antigua, the spirit of Salvador Dali took over the game of cricket. It was surreal. At 11.34am, India were 257 for 6, looking set to collapse to a sub-300 score; at 5.30pm, India were 462 for 6, with VVS Laxman having notched up a dour, indomitable century, and Ajay Ratra, whose highest first-class score coming into the match was 77, on 93 not out. The two batsmen had added a record 205 runs for the 8th wicket, and for once, Sourav Ganguly looked relaxed, his normally-furrowed brow as smooth as the blue Caribbean sea that encases the island where Viv Richards is king.

Laxman and Ratra batted as if they both had a point to prove, and they did. Laxman has long been accused of not having the application needed to perform consistently in Test cricket; Ratra's ability with the bat was called into question before this Test, when he was almost dropped for Deep Dasgupta to add depth to the lower order. They displayed both qualities in abundance during their partnership, as they settled down to repair the Indian innings.

Laxman, as he had in the first three Test innings of this tour, all of which were fifties, curbed his strokeplaying instincts substantially, playing a very compact game, not driving away from his body as he often does, to his own downfall. He was striking the ball fluently, but in the early part of his innings, often found a fielder; when he got past, the slowness of the outfield denied him of the boundaries his well-timed strokes would normally have got.

Perhaps because of this, there were only three fours hit in the morning session, in which only 46 runs were scored, for the loss of three wickets. The tempo did not speed up after lunch. Sixty-five runs were scored between lunch and tea, in 32 overs, but, crucially, no wickets fell.

Ratra grew in confidence as the day went on. His shot selection was magnificent – he played well within his limitations – and he handled the short-pitched stuff with immense gusto, pulling with aplomb, swaying with alacrity. He also prevented India from getting too bogged down by running a fair share of quick singles, which is never easy with Laxman at the other end.

Laxman was circumspect throughout, not panicking when sharp fielding and a slow outfield did not get him the value he deserved for his strokes. Aping evolution itself, the hunter had turned gatherer; though he did show some glimpses of the ferocity that lurked underneath.

In the ninth over after lunch, he presented the world with a sparkling vignette of his genius. He played an exquisite cover-drive for four off Adam Sanford that was textbook perfect and picture-book beautiful; Viv Richards was heard going into raptures over what a perfect stroke it was, and how every schoolboy should study it for foot-movement, balance, elbow-position, the works. Praise from the King himself…

The very next ball, Laxman stepped forward and played an immaculately-timed straight drive to the boundary, a shot of a sublime grace that evoked memories of Kolkata. And then, having done with the flourish, Laxman resumed his workmanlike ways.

The momentum went up after tea, as Laxman chased a couple of sucker-balls well outside off, but nothing untoward happened. But this was just part of a brief transitory period between gears, and once the two touched fourth, they looked supremely comfortable.

Laxman, having crossed 50 in the afternoon session, now raced towards his century with a flurry of fours off the West Indies spinners. An off-drive off Carl Hooper was followed by a magnificent pull off a Ramnaresh Sarwan long-hop, and then two fours off Hooper's next over – a regal square cut to the point boundary and then, a stepping-out straight-driven four which would have given even Sourav Ganguly a complex.

The pacers came back, and Laxman promptly pulled Mervyn Dillon to the midwicket fence to bring up his third Test century. It was nowhere near as spectacular as his first two – 167 at Sydney and 281 at Kolkata – but for India, it was invaluable.

Ratra, till then the passive partner, then took charge. The first to suffer was Adam Sanford: a firm off-drive to the boundary was followed by an emphatic pull that clattered into the midwicket fence.

Then, he off-drove Pedro Collins for four, before playing one of the shots of the day, a superlative on-drive off Collins that any specialist batsman in this team would be proud to have played. He then hooked Collins for four, to move into the 80s.

VVS Laxman, at the other end, was happy to give Ratra the strike, as the prospect of a second century in the Indian innings loomed as large as the ball must have appeared to Ratra. But he ended the day on 93 not out, with a sleepless night looming ahead.

Carl Hooper, too, would find sleep difficult, having squandered the fine start West Indies had to the day, when Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid were out within two runs of each other in the first hour. Ganguly, on 45, recalled a past that everyone thought he had exorcised and slashed a short wide ball from Cameron Cuffy to Wavell Hinds at point (233 for 4) while Dravid, on 91 and frustrated by the inertia displayed on the scoreboard, inside-edged a just-short-of-good-length ball from Dillon onto his stumps while attempting a cut (235 for 5).

Anil Kumble was softened by a blow on the head he took off Dillon's bowling, and chewed up when he nudged another perfume-ball straight to Shivnarine Chanderpaul at gully (257 for 6). That brought VVS Laxman and Ajay Ratra together, and so they stayed, and stayed, and stayed.

Teams
India 1 SS Das, 2 Wasim Jaffer, 3 Rahul Dravid, 4 Sachin Tendulkar, 5 Sourav Ganguly (capt), 6 VVS Laxman, 7 Ajay Ratra (wk), 8 Anil Kumble, 9 Javagal Srinath, 10 Zaheer Khan, 11 Ashish Nehra.

West Indies 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Wavell Hinds, 3 Brian Lara, 4 Ramnaresh Sarwan, 5 Carl Hooper (capt), 6 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 7 Ridley Jacobs (wk), 8 Mervyn Dillon, 9 Cameron Cuffy, 10 Pedro Collins, 11 Adam Sanford.

Amit Varma is assistant editor of Wisden.com in India.

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