Close West Indies 187 for 3 (Sarwan 50*, Hooper 26*) trail India 513 for 9 dec (Laxman 130, Ratra 115*, Dravid 91, Jaffer 86) by 326 runs
scorecard

A dramatic day of Test cricket stood out for the sheer courage of one man. Anil Kumble had been struck on the jaw while batting yesterday, and, after x-rays revealed a fracture, was scheduled to take the next flight back to India for an operation.

Then came high drama. Miraculously, it seemed, Kumble took the field swathed in bandages which ran around his head, after Sachin Tendulkar filled the breach by bowling Wavel Hinds around his legs. More drama, as Kumble got the prized wicket of Brian Lara for 4 and was desperately unlucky not to have dismissed Carl Hooper. His figures of 14-5-29-1 did scant justice to his guts and glory performance.

Through the storm swirling around, Ramnaresh Sarwan batted with the calm assurance of a Zen monk, rarely putting a foot wrong in getting to his half-century, even as Hooper struggled at the other end. West Indies need only 127 more runs to avoid following on, and while this might seem fairly achievable on a placid pitch, a couple of early wickets on the fourth day could make this game spring alive suddenly in the manner the odd ball did later in the day.

West Indies were still 193 runs from avoiding the follow-on when Kumble entered the field to a stunned hush. With Lara new to the crease, there was an opportunity to put the opposition under pressure. He was on the spot first-up, getting past Lara's outside edge. Getting medical attention from physiotherapist Andrew Leipus between overs, Kumble soldiered on, and needed just 21 deliveries to get his man. A good-length ball pitched on middle-and-off, straightened, and defeated Brian Lara's attempt to flick off the back foot. The ball struck Lara in front of middle, and umpire David Shepherd's finger went up (135 for 3). Stuff of schoolboy fiction.

Kumble could have had Hooper three times too. First, umpire David Shepherd turned down a confident lbw appeal, when Hooper was caught on the move and struck in front of off. The ball would have taken off-and-middle, but Shepherd thought otherwise.

Then, having reinforced his bandages between overs, Kumble came back and almost got Hooper off successive balls. SS Das lapped up a straightforward chance at short leg, only for the umpire to signal no-ball; then, next ball, Hooper tried to cut one that whizzed off the surface, took the edge, and flew past Rahul Dravid, who could only get a hand to it at slip. Hooper survived, and saw West Indies through to the close without further damage.

Earlier, Ajay Ratra was the hero for India, becoming the first specialist Indian wicketkeeper to score a Test hundred overseas. It was a fitting response to all those who had rubbished his batting abilities earlier. He stuttered at 99 for 15 balls, during which period he was hit on his right hand by Cameron Cuffy and lost his overnight partner VVS Laxman for 130. Laxman tried to fend Mervyn Dillon but trod onto his stumps (474 for 7).

Ratra finally reached the coveted landmark with a pull to the fine-leg fence for four and punched the air in delight. Wickets tumbled at the other end though, as Zaheer Khan edged to Ridley Jacobs off Cuffy for 4 (485 for 8), and Javagal Srinath holed out to Lara at cover off Cuffy for 15 (508 for 9). Sourav Ganguly waved in his batsmen soon after, leaving Ratra undefeated on 115.

West Indies got off to a smooth start, rarely troubled by the three-pronged seam attack. India tried everything they could, which included getting the ball changed after just 11 overs, but to little avail. Chris Gayle freed his arms to anything fractionally wide of off stump, while Wavell Hinds was sure in his footwork.

Zaheer finally got India the breakthrough with a clever piece of variation. He bowled with the fingers rolled around the seam, the ball gripped the surface, bounced, and caught the Gayle's glove. Ajay Ratra dived forward to complete a smart catch (65 for 1). Gayle should have been dismissed in Zaheer's previous over, but SS Das at midwicket spilled a sitter, when the batsman scooped an attempted flick. Fortunately, Gayle did not add to his score of 32.

Hinds, so comfortable against pace, was troubled against the crafty legspin of Tendulkar, who got appreciable turn and bounce from the surface. Dravid dropped an edge from Hinds off a perfect googly from Tendulkar when the batsman was on 38. Hinds celebrated with two spanking fours off Zaheer, and reached his fifty in the first over after tea. His joy was short-lived though, when a full-length googly from Tendulkar defeated his on-side heave and bowled him round his legs for 65 (121 for 2).

That's when Kumble came on to bowl. What had been petering into a fairly uneventful day's cricket suddenly became special. That whets the appetite for what could be in store tomorrow.

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.

S Rajesh is sub editor of Wisden.com in India.

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