West Indies Show Some Ticker

Starting at 8:30am, whilst the smog and early morning haze still hangs low to the ground, it was little wonder that the West Indies first innings lasted only another 36 overs this morning. Vision of play from the ground showed a thickish pall which enveloped the players and even on the close shots there was a degree of obstruction. Bear in mind that television cameras clean and scrub bad visual conditions very effectively to make life easier for their viewers, so heaven knows how bad things were for the batsmen.

The two men likely to cause India problems were both gone inside seven overs. Kirk Edwards was perhaps unlucky, when an arm ball from Pragyan Ohja kept coming into him and he missed the chance to tuck it away off his pads. Even with the naked eye on first look there seemed to be doubt as to whether it would have hit leg stump and once again the lack of a DRS system ran in India's favour. At least it would have been good to be certain. Ohja's clever deception was sprung after ripping a ball across Edwards from the leg, just the ball before. Shiv Chanderpaul was the second of the crucial wickets, also trapped in front but this time by Ashwin and with no room for argument. The ball would have hit middle and leg.

Samuels bowled by Yadav

After Edwards, no one could last an hour. Umesh Yadav crippled the innings further bowling Darren Bravo with a ball which went from the left handers leg stump to off, only for Bravo to inside edge the ball back into his castle and then cleaning up Marlon Samuels with a riper that went the opposite way to the right hander at pace and took out off stump. Samuels seems to be one of those unlucky batsmen who gets out to more than his fair share of really good deliveries.

Ohja cleaned up the tail quickly, partly with his guile and partly with his boot. Carlton Baugh and Fidel Edwards were both left lbw: Edwards going back onto his stumps and swatting across the line and Baugh trying to sweep. It was Ohja's foot which accounted for Kemar Roach when Darren Sammy creamed a ball back at the Indian left arm orthodox spinner and stabbed a boot in the direction of the ball sending it into the bowlers stumps. Roach had nowhere to go but the pavilion. West Indies went to lunch with one innings down and one to go.

Adrian Barath made 62 in the second

It was a different game after lunch, for although Kraigg Brathwaite left early, a victim of Yadav, Adrian Barath and Kirk Edwards were determined to play. Barath, who made a debut hundred in Brisbane on the West Indies 09/10 Australian tour, has only played seven Test matches since, the last four against India at home and away after his third recall to the team. He only played here in Kolkata because Kieran Powell was injured. He's a feisty little batsmen who likes to hit fours and had five of them on the board in his first 23 runs, mostly from drives off front and back foot through the covers. He found a willing partner in Edwards who seems to love to push back at the bowlers the more they look like dominating. Edwards is an immensely powerful leg side player and drives between mid on and mid wicket as well as any West Indian ever has. His off side strokes can sometimes look awkward owing to the heavy bottom hand he employers and his cut shots make his bat look like an axe. When he plays the lofted shots, he gets down the wicket to the spinners with a surprising lightness in his feet and his Mike Tyson upper torso keeps the ball where he means to hit it. It's mean to say, but there is a lot of Viv in his demeanour and execution.

Kirk Edwards made 60 in the second

The pair added 93 for the second wicket before Ishant Sharma appeared to make the ball reverse in only the 33rd over and find the edge of Barath's bat. VVS Laxman held a sharp catch, low and to his left at slip. Barath had looked set so this was a fine wicket for Sharma to claim. The 23 year old has already crammed 40 Tests into his career but recently, wickets have been harder to come by than they were back in June and July. His last four Tests have yielded only four wickets. 

Bravo wasted no time getting underway, lobbing Ohja a long way over the long on boundary in the second over he faced and then handing out the same rough handling to Ravi Ashwin soon after. He is a glorious striker of the ball and probably the most naturally gifted of the West Indians. They would be hoping his brilliant 195 against Bangladesh might have taught him the value of tempering his shot selection.

Edwards and Bravo added a further 45 before Edwards became the third wicket to fall. Playing across his front pad for a shot which gets him a lot of runs, he missed a ball from Sharma which came straight on and was lbw. Chanderpaul and Bravo took the West Indies through to stumps with no sign of argument from the bowlers. Chanderpaul got off the mark with two controlled glides to third man and fine leg which both milked 4's and Bravo greeted part timer Sehwag by launching him into the crowd behind him.

Two long days left and still enough of the Himalayas to climb  for these Caribbean boys.