Praveen, Dravid Put India 164 Ahead On Day Two

After being bowled out for 246, the Indians came back strongly to get a 73-run lead over the West Indies in their first innings. India ended the second day of the first Test match at Kingston in Jamaica on 91 for three to go ahead by 164 runs.

The day belonged to the Indian pace bowling duo of Praveen Kumar and Ishant Sharma, who surprise the West Indians with their pace and movement. More specifically, Ishant had the pace and Praveen, the movement to trouble the opponents.

Resuming at 34 for one, West Indies lost Ramnaresh Sarwan early enough, to a woeful lbw decision, but the pair of Adrian Barath and Darren Bravo consolidated well enough to take the hosts to 91. Barath looked at his fluent best, contrary to the manner in which he had batted on the first day and there seemed no demons in the pitch at that stage.

It was a double-burst off successive overs from Praveen Kumar that set the cats amongst the pigeons. Barath got to his half-century but failed to read the swing and edged behind and Bravo followed suit in similar fashion. Four overs later, Brendan Nash’s attempt to play down to the leg-side resulted in a leading edge to the slips and West Indies had lost half their side for 102.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul led the resurrection with Carlton Baugh, that coincided with the banning of Praveen Kumar from bowling because of his transgressions on to the danger area. The pair added 45 but once Baugh departed to Harbhajan Singh, the rest of the side collapsed to 173 all out.

The lead of 73, on a track which was difficult to score on, seemed to be a healthy one, but the early loss of Murali Vijay (0) looked to have brought West Indies back into the game. Abhinav Mukund and Rahul Dravid thwarted any such plans of the opposition running through India in the manner that they had done to England in 2009.

The pair accumulated a stand of 56 runs and while first Mukund and then VVS Laxman departed in quick succession, India were able to get to 91 by the time the stumps were drawn. With Dravid batting on 45 and a long list of quality batsmen still to come, the West Indians will need to do a lot to prevent India from setting a huge score. The first session of the third day will hold the key.