WHAT A FEELING! Ramnaresh Sarwan exults after his century as fellow century-maker Daren Ganga watches. — Photo: AP

Advertisement

Basseterre: Daren Ganga made his first hundred in three years, Ramnaresh Sarwan reached his ninth century in a blaze of boundaries, as West Indies furthered its position of strength in the third Test here at Warner Park.

The pair put on 203 for the second wicket before Munaf forced Ganga to play on. Munaf then took his third wicket when he had skipper Brian Lara leg before for a mere 10.

In a two-and-a-half hour first session on the second day, the home side, resuming on 207 for one overnight, went to lunch 362 for three on a track that was at its best for batsmen.

"I had a chat with Daren at breakfast, and told him to bat the way he does as captain of Trinidad and Tobago," said Brian Lara.

"Usually for West Indies, he's playing for his spot, but for Trinidad, with the responsibility, he is able to shake it off and bat well."

Neither Ganga nor Sarwan looked in trouble on Friday morning. After Munaf and Kumble bowled eight overs between them, both batsmen made use of the angles the off-spin of Harbhajan and Sehwag provided.

Sarwan cleared the infield with hoicks to cow corner; Dravid relented by pushing his field back on this small ground. Singles accrued. Sixty-five came came in the 16 overs before the second new ball was due. The Indian skipper took it immediately.

Sarwan goes berserk

Sarwan then found six different parts of the field off a Munaf seven-ball over to join Sandeep Patil (off Bob Willis, seven balls) and Chris Gayle (off Matthew Hoggard, six balls) as the only men to have hit six fours in an over.

He moved from 75 to 99 in the course of that over, before getting to three figures off 127 balls (16 fours, one six).

Ganga had earlier gone to his third Test hundred (324m, 248b, 11 fours) with a cut, and had given in to the enormity of the moment, embracing his mate for what seemed an eternity.

The Indian players wore black armbands in respect of former wicketkeeper Budhi Kunderan, who passed away, aged 66.

On Thursday, Chris Gayle and Ganga added 143, giving West Indies the iron-core strut it needed for a weighty total. Sreesanth bore the brunt of Gayle swinging smoothly through — no feet — after three successive maidens.

"Sreesanth bowled in the right regions, he bowled me maidens," said Gayle. "He is aggressive; so am I. So, I decided to take the fight to him." Both Indian opening bowlers, however, were guilty of not making the batsmen play enough on a track that had carry to warrant Dhoni collecting with his gloved fingers pointing sky-wards.

Munaf bowled an excellent second spell, a spell that had about it the conviction that a wicket was around the corner.

Three sixes

Gayle moved to 83 from 127 balls, 62 of them coming off just 13 balls (eight fours, five sixes). The lanky left-hander picked on Harbhajan Singh, hitting the off-spinner for three sixes.

"He was playing his first match of the series, and I put pressure on him," said Gayle.

Munaf angled one into the 26-year-old, sending his off-stump on a series of aerial callisthenics after he had shouldered arms.

Kumble was India's best bowler; a different umpire might have allowed him a four-for.

But, Brian Jerling is from the school of thought that implores umpires to say `not out', until absolutely convinced middle stump half-way up would have been hit: the argument being shockers that involve giving a batsman out are looked upon less favourably.

On the evidence of this series alone, the standards of umpiring are a far cry from the impression of `Utopia' the ICC seeks to propagate.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail