It was good to see the West Indian pacemen dismiss India fairly quickly today. Mervyn Dillon bowled an excellent spell. He was extremely aggressive, and it's great to see him improving with every game. Cameron Cuffy continued to bowl a defensive line, as he has done in this entire series. I feel he needs to be a lot more attacking, and look to take wickets on a regular basis. Cuffy's style of bowling is fine for a one-day game, but you always have to look for wickets in Test cricket. I'm sure the captain would not mind Cuffy giving away a few more runs than he does, if he can pick up wickets. Much like Zaheer Khan, who was expensive, but picked up wickets at regular intervals. I was not surprised with Carl Hooper's decision to bat, even though India failed to save the follow on. The wicket is deteriorating, so batting last will always be a problem. If India batted again, there was every chance of VVS Laxman or Sachin Tendulkar getting stuck in, and that could have put the West Indies under a lot of pressure.

Wavell Hinds and Chris Gayle looked good before they were dismissed in quick succession. One can't compare then to the Gordon Greenidge/Desmond Haynes duo, but they are both promising young players who will surely develop into an effective opening pair for West Indies. Hooper failed to make a significant contribution in the second innings as well, but he has had a tremendous series, and his good run had to come to an end. As for Brian Lara, I still feel that his arm injury is restricting his free scoring style of play, and he does not look 100% fit.

The West Indian top order collapse might have well been due to complacency, but the Indian bowlers bowled better in the second innings than they did in the first. The top order played a number of rash shots, and the team is very fortunate that Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Pedro Collins resurrected the innings.

Chanderpaul kept a cool head and handled the pressure to perfection. This has been a prominent feature of his batting ever since he made his test debut. He did not panic at all, and has now ensured a winning position for West Indies. Collins did very well to hold up his end, and his innings frustrated the Indians to a large extent.

There will be no specific plan for tomorrow. The remaining West Indian batsman will just add as many runs as they possibly can, and if they don't get bowled out, the declaration should be made once the lead reaches 400. This will certainly put West Indies in a dominant position, as it will be difficult for India to chase a target in excess of 400 batting last.

Michael Holding, a key member of the West Indies pace quartet of the 1970s and '80s, will be contributing the Wisden Verdict for all the Tests in this series. He was talking to Dhruv Mullick.

More Michael Holding
Day 1 Verdict Hinds showed his quality
Day 2 Verdict It could have been better

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