West Indies dominate day 2

The West Indies began day 2 in a strong position, with India sitting at 9/235 after a torrid first day with the bat. Much had been said of the slow pitch and difficult run-scoring, but after Edwards removed the final wicket in quick time, Chris Gayle set about proving the critics wrong.

The West Indies batsmen didn’t have it all their own way, as Munaf Patel removed Ganga early on for 9. Nevertheless, Gayle soon took to the attack with vigour, assisted by some extremely wayward bowling from Sreesanth, and with some solid support from Sarwan made the Indian total look far short of par.

Eventually the second wicket stand was broken by Kumble, but it was too late to stop the home side from gaining the ascendancy. Gayle and Sarwan had added 119 for the second wicket, and Gayle himself 72. After Gayle’s dismissal, Lara and Sarwan fell with the West Indies still 50 in arrears, but Dwayne Bravo ensured that India would be well behind when they batted next with another aggressive innings. Bravo has been the star of the series in both forms of the game, and he continued today with 68 runs in quick time, taking toll on the Indian seamers and looking comfortable against the spinners as well.

Sreesanth continued to be the worst of the bowlers, but VRV Singh had poor moments as well, and Bravo was ably assisted by the lower order as he carved out a lead of 41 runs before his dismissal at the hands of Sehwag’s part-timers. Indeed, Sehwag was one of the finest bowlers on the day, with noticable turn and a pair of wickets.

Ramdin and Bradshaw saw the home side to stumps and extended the lead to 77 without trouble, leaving India in a poor position as the first test heads towards the halfway mark. It will require a quick finish tomorrow and an improved performance with the bat to avoid a shock loss and further troubles on what has already been a difficult tour for India.

India 241
Rahul Dravid 49, Varinder Sehwag 36
Dwayne Bravo 4/40, Corey Collymore 3/27

West Indies 6/318
Chris Gayle 72, Dwayne Bravo 68
Varinder Sehwag 2/32, Munaf Patel 2/60

West indies lead by 77 runs with 4 wickets in hand.
This is the first test of three.