Close West Indies 287 for 4 (Hinds 113, Gayle 68, Sarwan 65)
scorecard

West Indies frittered away the advantage in the final session as India gritted their way back into the decisive Jamaica Test. They were cruising at 246 for 1 an hour after tea – Wavell Hinds having bludgeoned his way to a superb hundred, before three wickets in quick succession gave the Indians respite from the pounding that they had received all day. Carl Hooper and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, India's bugbears in this series, faced a torrid examination in the final stages, but came through without damage to finish the day at 287 for 4.

Hooper enjoyed another huge slice of good fortune late on, when SS Das dropped a stinging chance at cover off Ashish Nehra. If he had held on, the Indians could even have ended the day on top after being under the cosh so long.

Sourav Ganguly had thought little about bowling first on a grassy wicket that promised to be a seamer's dream. But the way the Indians bowled in the morning, it turned out to be nothing of the sort. Gayle and Hinds gave the first 45 minutes to the bowlers, scoring just 11 runs off the first 10 overs, at one stage playing four consecutive maidens. Then, they took over, as the listless Indian bowling was pasted to all parts of the ground.

The exertions of the previous Test at Antigua – when the Indian pace trio had bowled a combined total of 142 overs - seemed to be telling on them, as they sprayed the ball all over the place on a pitch which offered them significant bounce and seam movement. It got worse for Ganguly, when umpire Russell Tiffin warned him for running on the wicket in his third over.

Javagal Srinath and Nehra got appreciable bounce from the wicket but both were guilty of not making the batsmen play enough though. There were a couple of close shaves for the batsmen - Gayle survived a confident shout for caught behind from Srinath, while Hinds got the benefit of the doubt when struck high on the pad by Nehra.

The party started soon after. Zaheer Khan was introduced into the attack in the 12th over of the innings, and Gayle greeted him with an imperious flick to the square-leg fence. Next over, Hinds drove Srinath down the ground for three and then Gayle followed with a back-foot square-drive for four.

Nehra then came back on to replace Srinath, but went for eight in his second over, an exquisite on-drive by Hinds followed by a squirt past gully. The deluge continued, as Gayle spanked Zaheer for consecutive fours down the ground and then pulled him to the midwicket fence, as 20 came from his two-over spell before lunch.

Gayle departed in the first hour after lunch, but some superb batting by Hinds and Ramnaresh Sarwan made sure that India didn't get so much as a look-in.

Gayle had eased his way to a fluent and entertaining 68 when he ballooned a Zaheer delivery to Wasim Jaffer at gully. The ball rose on him after pitching and took the outside edge as he played back. It was a good comeback from Zaheer after Gayle had creamed the first ball of the over through the covers for four.

Sarwan started off by punishing a wayward Srinath - first pulling him through midwicket and then stroking him past cover for an all-run four. Hinds was watchful in the extreme but when given width, he was quick to latch on. He started to pick off Harbhajan as the session wound to a close, smashing him over long-off for a huge six and then driving him over mid-on for four. Sourav Ganguly brought himself on, but to little effect, as Sarwan drove the first ball gloriously through the covers. He was in ominous touch, clipping Harbhajan effortlessly over midwicket and then playing the most delicate of leg-glances off Zaheer Khan.

Hinds smote Harbhajan for another straight six and then tickled him down to square leg to bring up his second Test hundred. The crowd went berserk, and the celebrations were doubled when Sarwan reached his fifty in the same over.

Then, it all unravelled. A moment's impetuosity from Hinds gifted Harbhajan his 100th Test wicket. Hinds gave himself room and smashed another delivery straight down the ground, but only found the safe hands of Jaffer at long-off. Harbhajan switched to bowling over the wicket and that did the trick, after Hinds had savaged him to the tune of three fours in his previous over. He made 113, from just 200 balls, and got a standing ovation as he walked back.

Brian Lara scratched around for 9, surviving two confident appeals for leg before, and then edged a fairly wide delivery from Nehra through to Ajay Ratra behind the stumps. With the scoreboard stuck on 264, Sarwan followed him back. He was caught at backward short leg by SS Das off Harbhajan Singh, for 65. He looked none too happy about it, but the ball did appear to go off the face of the bat onto pad. After that, it was hands to the pump for the West Indies, as a day that started so brightly ended on a slightly dull note.

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 Harbhajan Singh, 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.

Dileep Premachandran is assistant editor, and S Rajesh is sub-editor of Wisden.com in India.

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