This was the dullest day of the series. So dull, that even Chickie's Posse could barely find energy to shake their hip. So dull, that this correspondent watched the cricket from a tree for a while. It wasn't bad batting or terrible bowling or anything, but the moment West Indies eased past the follow-on mark of 313, the Test effectively died. The batsmen at least had their averages to play for. The bowlers could only contemplate, grumpily, what might happen to theirs.

There was just one moment where things could have turned around for India. The score was 223 for 4, and Chanderpaul was only 8, when an excellent lbw shout from Sachin Tendulkar was not upheld. Once the moment passed, there was no looking back. Nothing hung in the balance.

Hooper & Chanderpaul. They've been unstoppable. They seem to have now mastered the art of making the century – something that had never come naturally to either man. Nothing must be more frustrating for the Indians than when the fourth West Indian wicket falls and Chanderpaul comes out to join Hooper. No, the fourth West Indian wicket is not to be celebrated. Not when the fifth one has added 193, 73, 215 and 186 in four successive Tests.

In this series, Guyana's middle-order batsmen - Hooper, Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan - have made a staggering 1136 runs between them. No middle-order from any of the other eight countries that have a representation in this series - including India - have come reasonably close. Not since Zaheer Abbas, Javed Miandad and Mudassar Nazar murdered India in 1982-83, when each averaged more than 100 in a six-Test series, has a trio dominated them thus.

Yet, it would be cruel to fault the Indian bowlers here. First of all, they had to make do without Anil Kumble, who, in his broken-jaw spell of 14 overs looked by far the best bowler in this Test. Not only that, Hooper had three lucky escapes yesterday off Kumble, though two of them were India's own fault. Then, of course, there was this pitch to contend with.

Javagal Srinath was the most disciplined today, and Zaheer Khan the most incisive, but really, there wasn't much threat. Just how much a specialist spinner was missed became evident when Zaheer turned to left-arm spin. Chanderpaul loved it.

Tomorrow promises to be seriously boring. A ball before Hooper lost his wicket in a vintage moment of carelessness, Viv Richards said in the press-box that Brian Lara's world record would be under threat tomorrow. Not even that possibility remains, unless Chanderpaul finds the seventh gear that Nathan Astle couldn't reach. Well, the play must go on.

Rahul Bhattacharya is a staff writer with Wisden.com in India. His reports will appear here throughout the Test series.

More Indian Verdicts
Day 1 Zero, zero, eight, zero
Day 2 The confidence game
Day 3 A humungous heart

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