The hangover

After batting no-show in England,Indias woes continue at home as well

Darren Sammy waited eagerly at short-square leg as the ball fountained off Rahul Dravid8217;s bat,made a lazy loop and landed in the hands of the West Indian skipper. While a shadow-practicing Dravid corrected his pull shot on way to the dressing room,near the centre wicket the West Indians were in the middle of wild celebrations. Understandably so,since these days its common knowledge that Dravids exit effectively signals the end of the Indian innings.

That was the case in England this summer and though the Kotla wicket was starkly different in nature from the one at Lords,Nottingham,Birmingham or the Oval,the start of winter at home was no different. On Day Two of the opening Test here on Monday that familiar montage of Indias batting failure was played out once again.

Dravid persisted with loads of determination for a little over three hours against a disciplined West Indian attack before he too played a false stroke the common feature of Indias first innings. Indias outing with the bat was clocked at four hours and seven minutes. It was the period that saw them scoring 209. As the West Indies took a 95-run lead,India were pushed to the wall.

But with visitors finishing the day at 21/2,taking the wicket count for the day to17,the tide had turned once again. Considering that the low and slow track has uneven bounce,the chances of the game going the distance are slim.

But,ironically,none of the Indian batsmen can blame the nature of this track for their dismissal. Virender Sehwag was stumped while trying to be cheeky,Sachin Tendulkar wasn8217;t sharp enough to negotiate a ball that angled in,VVS Laxman got out to an innocuous outside-the-off stump ball,Mahendra Singh Dhoni seemed too casual at the start of his inning,while Yuvraj Singh had a concentration lapse.

Gautam Gambhir was the only top-order batsman whose dismissal won8217;t call for an inquisition. He was run-out at the non-strikers end when Sehwags straight drive grazed Sammy8217;s fingers and crashed into the stumps. It brought an end to India8217;s best partnership,an exciting 75-ball 89-run opening stand.

Keeping the faith

During Indias period of early domination,the West Indians didnt wilt under this attack. Nor did their shoulders droop when Sehwag was clean bowled by Edwards off a no-ball and edges from Gambhir8217;s bat sneaked through the slip cordon to find boundaries. India8217;s 50 came in 52 balls,but soon what looked like turning into a boundary fest became a battle for survival. India lost their last nine wickets for 109 runs. Each of the Indian batsmen,on way to the dressing room,would have cringed when their dismissals were replayed on the giant screen .

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There was hope that the batsmen would match-up to the disciplined bowling effort of the Indian spinners,lead by left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojhas first five-wicket haul. India required a Chanderpaul-like innings on this wicket but the home batsmen didn8217;t seem sure of their gameplan.

The West Indies bowlers didn8217;t do much wrong today. They put their experience of playing against Bangladesh on similar wickets to good use. They had made inroads against Bangladesh batting by bowling full.

Edwards got Tendulkars wicket by doing just that. Bishoo,perhaps taking a cue from Ojha,kept it simple. As for Ravi Rampaul,he bowled tirelessly and kept up the pressure. Baugh behind the stumps supported the bowlers as he effected a smart stumping Sehwag and took a sharp and low catch Laxman. Sammy maintained attacking fields.

West Indian batsmen,in the second innings,have a tough task after Ojha and Ravichandran Ashwin picked up a wicket each in the fading light leaving them with a 116-run lead at stumps. Its unlikely to get any easier for the Indian batsmen in the fourth innings.