Spin scuppers Windies again
MUMBAI, India ( CMC): pin bowling sparked another typical West Indies batting collapse as India took control on day one of the second Test at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai yesterday.
West Indies crumbled for 182 before tea, eroded by left- arm spinner Pragyan Ojha, and India in reply reached 157 for two at the close, well within sight of a firstinnings lead.
Retiring batting great Sachin Tendulkar, playing his 200th and final Test, is not out on 38 and rookie Cheteshwar Pujara not out on 34.
Shane Shillingford continues to be the Windies’ most effective bowler on this trip, grabbing 2- 46 from 12 overs.
The visitors lost their last seven wickets for 42 runs in the space of 89 deliveries between lunch and tea.
Kieran Powell hit the top score of 48 and all of the West Indies’ top seven batsmen reached double figures, but none of them carried on.
West Indies hopes for a strong start had taken a dent when they reached 93 for two at lunch after Chris Gayle and Darren Bravo fell.
Gayle, playing his 99th Test, was caught at gully for 11 in
Sthe first half- hour after the Windies were sent in to bat on an unusually helpful, grassy pitch when he played back defensively to a delivery from Mohammad Shami that popped from a good length.
Bravo joined fellow left- hander Powell and they eased the pain of the early loss when they put on 61 for the second wicket.
Fortune favoured them both when Bravo, on four, edged Shami just short of second slip fielder Murali Vijay, and Powell, on 21, edged Kumar to first slip, where Ashwin put him down.
After lunch, West Indies suffered an early setback when Powell essayed a whip and was caught at short leg off Ojha when the ball lobbed from the pad from a thin inside edge in the third over after the interval.
This brought Shivnarine Chanderpaul to the crease. Playing his 150th Test under the maroon cap, he and Marlon Samuels stitched a stand of 43 for the third wicket to stem the fall of wickets.
But Samuels was caught at slip off Ojha for 19 when he played defensively forward to a delivery that spun sharply, setting the collapse in motion. Chanderpaul was unable to mark his momentous appearance with a milestone innings, falling three overs later caught at first slip for 25 when B h u v n e s h w a r Kumar squared him up and found his edge with a wellpitched delivery that moved across him.