Anchor steals the show from stars

The show did not go along the expected lines as neither local hero Saurav Ganguly nor master blaster Sachin Tendulkar could get the elusive century at the Eden Gardens. But then, the opening day of the third and final match of the Test series did not turn out to be a disappointing one for the home side as they reached 275 for six at close, which came seven overs before the scheduled 90 overs. With lights fading fast and Carl Hooper’s Caribbean side not showing any urgency to accelerate their bowling rate, the concluding hour’s play was conducted under floodlights.

SCOREBOARD

India (1st innings): Sanjay Bangar c W Hinds b Cuffy 77; V Sehwag lbw b Dillon 35; R Dravid lbw b D Powell 14; S Tendulkar c Gayle b Lawson 36; S Ganguly c Jacobs b Hooper 29; VVS Laxman c Gayle b Dillon 48; P Patel (batting) 18; Harbhajan Singh (batting) 3; Extras (lb-7, nb-8) 15 Total: (for 6 wkts, 83 overs) 275 Fall of wickets: 1/49 (Sehwag), 2/72 (Dravid), 3/116 (Tendulkar), 4/165 (Ganguly), 5/242 (Bangar), 6/271 (Laxmn). Bowling: M Dillon 17-2-61-2 (nb-2), C Cuffy 20-4-52-1 (nb-3), J Lawson 16-3-58-1, D Powell 15-4-61-1 (nb-1), C Hooper 12-4-25-1, C Gayle 2-0-6-0, R Sarwan 1-0-5-0

While the big guns fell short of their reputation — Sehwag and Laxman failed to convert their 30s and 40s into hundreds and Dravid was dismissed cheaply — it was gritty opener Sanjay Bangar, who not only took it upon himself to give India a steady start but also ensured a reasonably good total at the end of the day.

But Bangar must thank his luck and Shivnaraine Chanderpaul, who dropped a catch off Dillon’s bowling at third slip when the opener was on five.

The lapse proved too costly for the visitors as Bangar went on to notch up a disciplined 75, the highest individual score of the day.

Displaying ice cool temperament, lots of patience and sound technique, Bangar held the innings together for most part of the day. Though a century stand eluded India, Bangar’s association in one 77-run and two 40-plus stands helped the home side reach a position of safety.

Bangar, who concentrated mostly on blunting the Windies pace attack, opened up after tea, playing some delightful strokes. The gutsy opener’s efforts would have been befitting if he had gone on to complete his hundred. But a momentary hesitation to drive or defend Cameron Cuffy saw him spooning an easy catch to Chris Gayle at cover.

One positive development of the match was that after a lot of hue and cry involving ‘under-prepared’ wickets at Mumbai and Chennai (the venue of the first two Tests) the one at Eden proved better.

It gave some relief to the BCCI mandarin, who, according to their own version, have prepared fast and bouncy pitches at ten different centres of the country.

The relaid one here indeed offered good bounce, forcing batsmen to often duck under short-pitch deliveries. However, pace, the other part of the new pitch project’s mission was clearly missing. There was also no visible turn on it for the spinners.

So when Ganguly won the toss, he had no hesitation to go for batting. As expected, India made one chance in the side that won the second Test, bringing in left-arm seamer Ashish Nehra in place of injured Zaheer Khan.

But the visitors effected three changes with Cameron Cuffy, Darren Powell and Marlon Samuels replacing Pedro Collins, Ryan Hinds and Gareth Breese.

There was no visible change in India’s batting approach as Sehwag started off with his usual flamboyant style, while Bangar bottled one end up.