New opening pair, same old problem

West Indies fast bowlers Mervyn Dillon and Adam Sanford took a wicket each as India reached 70 for two at lunch on the first day of the second Test on Friday.

SCOREBOARD

India (1st Innings) SS Das lbw Dillon 10 S.Bangar c Murray b Sanford 9 R.Dravid batting 25 STendulkar batting 20 Extras (b4, lb2): 6 Total: (for 2 wkts): 70 Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-38 Bowling: Dillon 7-3-13-1, Cuffy 5-1-11-0, Sanford 8-3-26-1, Black 6-3-14-0

Openers Shiv Sundar Das and Sanjay Bangar failed to survive on a well-grassed track as the four-pronged West Indies pace attack – Dillon, Cameron Cuffy, Sanford and Marlon Black – justified captain Carl Hooper’s decision to bowl first with fiery opening spells. Rahul Dravid was unbeaten on 25 at the interval, with Sachin Tendulkar on 20.

Das steered Cuffy to the third man fence for his lone boundary before he was trapped lbw for 10 by Dillon with a delivery that nipped in sharply after pitching outside off stump.

Bangar, promoted as opener in place of wicketkeeper Deep Dasgupta who was left out in favour of debutant Ajay Ratra, drove Dillon for a straight four. But he perished for nine, playing away from his body to a widish delivery from Sanford. Wicketkeeper Junior Murray held on to a simple catch as India slumped to 38 for two. Dravid, promoted to No.3 after cracking an unbeaten 144 in the first Test at Georgetown struck five fours. He got off the mark by cutting Cuffy to the third man fence for four and then flicked Sanford to the square-leg boundary.

The 29-year-old then drove Sanford through the covers and cut a rising delivery from Black backward of point for four more. Tendulkar, looking to equal legendary Australian Don Bradman’s 29 Test centuries, struggled to 20, including four boundaries. But he was fortunate to survive on six when he got a leading edge to Sanford and the ball spooned up in the air and fell just short of Cuffy at wide mid-off.

HUGE APPEAL: The 28-year-old survived a huge appeal for caught behind later in the same over when he played and missed at a Sanford out-swinger. Tendulkar hit back, though, driving Sanford through the covers for fours and flicking him to the mid-wicket fence for four more off the next ball. Indian captain Saurav Ganguly decided to leave out leg-spinner Anil Kumble, India’s most successful current bowler with 318 wickets in 69 Tests, going in with three seamers – Javagal Srinath, Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra – and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh. Harbhajan, nicknamed ‘turbanator’ after grabbing 32 wickets to lead India to a stunning 2-1 home Test series win over Australia last year, had missed the first Test due to a pulled shoulder muscle.

West Indies made just one change, bringing in Black for leg-spinner Mahendra Nagamootoo, who was ruled out with a niggling hamstring injury.

(Reuters)